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3 Women - Criterion Collection

3 Women - Criterion Collection

List Price: $39.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The connection between women...a surreal experience...
Review: Pinky (Sissy Spacek), an immature and timid girl, has recently left Texas for some unknown reason and acquired a job as a geriatric healthcare aid in the Palm Springs area. She is guided into her new job by the talkative Millie (Shelley Duvall). Millie's chattiness is often disregarded by her coworkers, neighbors, and all others as she desperately attempts to make connections with men. However, Pinky perceives Millie as the perfect woman as she is the only person that pays any attention to her, which leads to the two of them becoming roommates. This is the beginning for what could be called a surrealistic experience as the connection between two women with their similarities and differences develops. Their connection leads into a whirlpool of emotional turmoil where the third enigmatic woman, Willie (Janice Rule), enters. Wille is an artist that creates murals of amphibian women in struggles.

3 Women is dreamlike vision of what Altman once dreamed and later envisioned on the silver screen for the public to see. When Altman's vision has been seen it is difficult to make into a clear picture as painfully uneasiness is instilled into the cerebral cortex while ambiguous notions are drifting in multiple directions. This leaves interpretation completely to the audience as some hints of what Altman might want to say could offer some direction, yet lead astray the most cunning of cerebral minds. Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall perform with brilliance as they bring this delusional imagination to life. In the end, Altman leaves a brilliant cinematic experience for an audience to ponder for ages as there is no absolute analysis of 3 Women.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Anticipating no problems with the transfer...
Review: since it isn't actually out yet.

I simply cannot believe that this film is by the same man who directed Ready to Wear. You can't ridicule an industry that is so ridiculous.

Three Women is certainly Altman's greatest and one of the greatest films ever made.

BTW - I'll buy dinner for the first person in the Northern NJ area who understands the Where in the world reference this time. Not just what but why.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good acting and theme but confusing and depressing
Review: This 1977 Robert Altman has a lot going for it. It stars Shelly Duval and Sissy Spacek, with a small part by Janice Rule. Shelly and Sissy are co-workers in a geriatric rehabilitation center. Sissy is the new girl in town and is fascinated by Shelly who seems, to her, to have it all together. Shelly is outgoing and friendly and dresses well. She talks about dating men and recipes and her nice apartment. Problem is that people don't like Shelly. They don't listen to her constant chatter. Men seem to run away from her. And she has no friends even though she tries hard.

Sissy becomes Shelly's roommate. A lecherous older man and his wife, Janice Rule, own their apartment complex. The husband beds the ladies. The wife, who is pregnant, is an artist and doesn't speak at all. She just paints all day, mostly decorating the bottom of an empty swimming pool in a deserted "old west" theme park.

An incident puts Sissy in the hospital and in a coma. When she recuperates, her whole personality is changed. The relationship between the women changes too. And then it turned a little weird. Too bad. The ending was confusing and depressing.

This film is an excellent showcase for the talented actresses and the director. I also thought the theme was really interesting. For that reason I do give it a mild recommendation.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a trip......
Review: This is one of Altmans strangest yet most absorbing films, it's based on a dream and it feels like it. (Im still not 100 percent i completely understand the story...and i think that's the point...) Shelley Duvall is amazing in this and all the secondary characters are great as well. It's also a real divisive film....if you're a fan of Altman you'll love it (you'll be engrossed in it)...if you're not a fan you'll hate it even more. If you don't know if you're a fan start with McCabe and Mrs Miller, Nashville, or California Split...and then check this out.
PS Bring Altmans "A Wedding" to DVD!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Masterpiece.
Review: This is Robert Altman's most singular film and it may also perhaps be his very best. Finally ridding himself almost completely this time of that always pesky narative albatross called plot, Altman seemingly bites off more than he can possibly chew, but I'll be damned if he doesn't get just about every bit digested. The hypnotic acting and mis-en-scene steer this cinematic poem down streets and alleys that I wasn't quite expecting from a Robert Altman film,who admittedly has always been consistently hit-or-miss in terms of quality. The almost ethereal tone that Altman strikes here seems to anticipate the more recent work of David Lynch,which makes one wonder why he never continued in this vein.However, 3 Women is better than any of the very talented David Lynch's work, but you ought to check into this yourself.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surrealistic, and impressive
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Robert Altman's "3 Women" is a very impressive film and is very surreal.

The film is about a very shy young woman who starts working at a hydrotherapy center at an geriatric center. She meets a co-worker who offers to take her in since she has extra room. They get into several spats and eventually tragedy strikes. I don't want to go into further details as It may spoil the ending.

The film has some very odd murals in it of creatures that are part fish, part human, and part baboon. There are other surreal elements in the film also. The acting is also very impressive and Shelly Duvall has a great part in the film.

The special features are a theatrical trailer, production photos and optional audio commentary by Robert Altman.

This is one film that will impress you.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Disguised Movie Masterpiece
Review: Three Women although written in the 70's I found very astonishing in its content, I am 19 and it has been my favorite movie since I saw it years ago. It tells the tale of the intricacies of humans in a way that is unorthodoxly humerous. The women in the movies traits show the interwoven facinations of daily life that isn't so daily, because it is removed from our relm and we are placed in thier peculiarities. It is truly an excellant film and highly recommended. Definetly one of Robert Altmans best pieces.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Either you get it or you don't. It's not for everyone.
Review: Words can't express the absolute brilliance of this film.We have all heard the phrase "silence is golden". I suggest that you put this phrase into effect after viewing this film. Do not discuss it with friends. Above all, do not discuss it with whomever you have just viewed it. Keep it to yourself. BEST when viewed in undisturbed, solitary confinement.Either you get it or you don't. It's not for everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As out there as Hollywood ever got....
Review: Yes, 3 Women is pretentious. Yes, it is almost plot free. Yes, it was a total flop. And, yes, it is oblique, dream-like and sometimes difficult to watch.

But it remains a unique movie, with a poetic sensibility (and considerable black humour) that puts most of contemporary cinema absolutely to shame. It is a testament to what happens when you give a group of real artists some money, and free rein to reinvent a world view in expressive and intriguing ways.

It comes as close as any Altman movie ever did to illustrating why he is a great director of actors. The general line on Altman is that his masterpieces are "Nashville", or "Thieves Like Us", or perhaps "McCabe and Mrs Miller". But I suspect this is the one that was the closest to his artistic core. I know it haunted me for years, and I only saw it once.

I recognise that Altman has produced some complete tosh over the years (eg "Quintet", "Pret-a-Porter"), but to this day he has never received the credit he deserves for that incredible period in the early seventies when he just grasped the creative nettle with both hands, used everything and everybody the studios could give him, and produced some of the most compelling movies of the age. This was one of them.

And as an added bonus I guarantee you will never be able to look at eating processed food in quite the same way ever again.


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