Sarah Polley was initially hesitant to take on ‘Women Talking’
The nominations for ‘Best Picture’ at the 2023 Oscars are surprisingly on-point, with the Academy seemingly praising most of the best films of the year rather than the most patriotic ones. Joining the James Cameron blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water, Ruben Östlund’s satire Triangle of Sadness and Todd Field’s complex drama Tár, among others, is the only female-led movie in the category: Sarah Polley’s Women Talking.
Based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, who also had a hand in writing the screenplay, Women Talking is based on the real-life events that occurred at the Manitoba Colony, a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia. The film tells the story of a community that grapples with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith, with the group forced into deciding whether to face the issue head-on or simply ignore it.
Starring the likes of Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw, the movie has been nominated for ‘Best Picture’ along with ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ for Polley after also being given the nod for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’ at the SAG awards.
Despite the success of the movie, Polley was close to turning down the project, with the chance to direct the movie landing on her doorstep at the least convenient time. With three children under the age of eight at the time, the director told the producers that she was keen to write the adaptation but wouldn’t be available to direct it.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Polley stated: “Making films in its current structure, which is for a director to have 14- to 16-hour days or more, is not conducive to seeing your children”. Continuing, she explained: “I said to them, ‘I really want to write it and I would deeply love to direct it, but I just don’t think I can do it because I don’t want to not see my kids for the many months it’ll take to make this film’”.
The person who was responsible for convincing her to take on directorial duties too was the actor and co-producer, Frances McDormand, who told Polley: “Men have written the rules of this industry. Let’s rewrite the rules and let’s make this film in such a way that you do see your kids every night. Let’s just figure out how to make that work”. Planning shorter filming days and a summer shoot, the production was planned to work for Polley’s schedule.
Working closely with the author Miriam Toews to adapt the story, Polley wanted to keep as much of the novel’s essence as possible and took time to work with the writer to get an impression of which parts of the books were essential for the film. Speaking further with the publication, she explained: “When I first sat down with Miriam and said to her, ‘If there’s one thing that’s most important to you about this adaptation, what would it be?’ She said, ‘The laughter.’ And that was a really great guiding principle to have going in”.
Women Talking has stiff competition in the ‘Adapted Screenplay’ category, going up alongside the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Living, Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion and more.
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