“3 Women” (1977) played after “Brewster.” The film starred Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. We encountered a few technical difficulties with the projection, making the narrative dicey and difficult to engage in. Even without the snag, “3 Women” was a weak entry. The film lagged in pacing and spent too much time in the dull goings-on of its leads.
Millie (Duvall) and Pinky (Spacek) are co-workers at the same geriatric rehab facility (read: nursing home in denial). Their job is to walk the seniors around a pool and to babysit them while they're in the tub, just to make sure they don't prune too much in the water or die. The opening shot juxtaposes these conflicting images of age. The young ladies in their skimpy suits stand beside the old women, who are all cellulite and flab. Pinky is new and immediately takes a shine to chatty, self-absorbed Millie. She leaps at the opportunity to become her roommate, but there's something off about Pinky. Under real world analysis, she may be autistic or something. "3 Women" never delves that far, only going so close as to establish Pinky's decidedly unhappy childhood in Texas. Her folks show up in the middle of the film seeming very out of touch with the modern world. As a get well present they give her one of those godawful adage plaques I'm sure you've seen hanging in someone's kitchen before, this one extolling the virtues of hard-work and keeping up with one's chores. Her parents seem ripped from American Gothic until we see them having sex in Pinky's bed (then they just seem creepy). The third woman is a pregnant muralist (Janice Rule) who serves no function whatsoever to the narrative until the very end.
The film has a dream-like lethargy about it, which seems to be the point. “Women” dances around a dramatic showdown but never delivers a big pay-off. Liken it to a watered-down version of Bergman’s “Persona.” The ending is competent but doesn’t satisfy, nor is it explained well. I left the Academy of Music after “3 Women” – ostensibly to go home and get some work done. Instead I went to Faces and got a pair of sunglasses. Ms. Meagher and co. stayed until midnight, watching “Nashville” at 7 and “The Player” at 10 p.m.
Today I will return to Northampton, boyfriend en tote, to experience day 2 of the festival. “Thieves Like Us” (1974) begins at 4:30, followed at 7 p.m. by “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971) and “The Long Goodbye” (1973) at 9:30 p.m. “McCabe” is the one I’m really excited for. The film stars Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. It’s set in the old west. Beatty plays a profiteer looking to launch a cheapo brothel in town. Christie’s the town newcomer who becomes madam. I’ve heard great things about it over the years, but never got around to seeing it. I recommend you all check it out!
-SM
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