Robert Altman‘s film 3 Women has been sitting in my Netflix queue for a very long time. Last night, I finally got around to it. Two hours spent watching, one weird dream induced by tuning in before bed, several waking hours of reflection and still, I’m not sure how to articulate any review of this film. This seems to be a piece that gets better with every watch. I know I missed a lot with just one view.
A little background, courtesy of Wikipedia:
3 Women is a 1977 American film written and directed by Robert Altman, and starring Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule.
It depicts the increasingly bizarre, mysterious relationship between a woman (Duvall) and her roommate (Spacek) in a dusty, underpopulated Californian town. The story came directly from a dream Altman had, which he did not fully understand but nonetheless adapted into a treatment, intending to film without a script. 20th Century Fox financed the project on the basis of Altman’s reputation. A script was completed before filming, although, as with most Altman films, the script was preliminary for what emerged during production.
Roger Ebert named this best film of 1977.
I took some snapshots of my favorite cinematic moments while watching. There are no real spoilers here, although I doubt you could spoil this movie even if you recounted everything that happened.
Have you seen this film? What did you think? If you’re intrigued, check out some behind-the-scenes photos on The Criterion Collection.