8 Women

An affectionate, sophisticated parody of Technicolor melodramas and musicals of the 1950s—with some mock-Agatha Christie thrown in for fun—this ironic, estrogen-overloaded François Ozon film is a cinema-couture-candy whodunit, full of frivolous twists and frothy performances. Set at a snowed-in French chateau where the man of the house has been found dead with a knife in his back, the artificially stylized film (sets are deliberately soundstagey, Dior-inspired costumes pop with color, characters are mock-'50s stereotypes) traps eight impeccably attired suspects (wife, daughters, sisters, servants) in the house together (the phone line's been cut!), slowly revealing each of their deep, dark secrets. Then the songs kick in! The A-list French cast—including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Beart, Fanny Ardant, and Virginie Ledoyen—couldn't be more finely tuned, with each actress over-playing her part enough to complement the film's farcical framework while providing just enough sincerity to garner sympathy, even for the most catty and contentious amongst them. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)