What Makes "3 Women" Such a Special Film?

Is it the marvelous Shelley Duvall? The theme? The dreamlike colors? The music?

To me, it’s definitely one of the best movies from Altman. Maybe his best.

That movie is the closest any filmmaker has come to show dream state without making it feel fake.

Yeah, that’s an easy comparison to draw, but certainly an illuminating one.

I absolutely love 3 Women. It’s like the best parts of Lynch and Altman combined to create some mysterious psychoanalytic treatise loosely based on Lacan. Haunting. What more could you want from a film, really?

Altman made his name directing films with large ensemble casts (Nashville, A Wedding, Short Cuts, et.a al.) Three Women is a complete change of pace in that it’s small-scale character study. Yes it’s remindful of “Persona” in some ways, but not at all in ohters. Both the actress and the Nurse in berg,am’s film are very sophsiticated women of the world. Shelley Duvall and Sissey Spacek are middle-class naifs with dreams of better things (Duvall especially) but no real way of knowing how to get them. That’s the natitualistic" base of the film’s story. But it soon leaves that to go into other more mysteriosu areas. Altman said the film was based on a dream he had — then took back that claim. But there’s something definitely dream-like about “Three Woman” — particularly it’s odd shape thanks to a complete reconfiguration of the characters in the third act in which Janice Rule (a silent background presence up until that pint) becomes a central figure.

The is a film to be savoured many many times.

This really was Altman’s greatest achievement.

Millie’s delicious dinner party. – ""I’m famous for my dinner parties"

Firstly, the film features Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. I could look at them all day. Two of the most beautiful women you’ll find anywhere in the world—just tantalising. Of course they can act superbly, too. A lot of beautiful women these days forget to do that, you know, that acting superbly thing.

I go along with the above-mentioned opinion that this film comes closest to capturing the look and feel of a dream on film. In fact the entire movie has an oddly dreamlike quality. When we dream, it becomes difficult to separate fact from fantasy. And this makes the dreamworld somewhat disconcerting. The musical score at the beginning of the film, the scene of elderly people slowly led about the swimming pool by their much younger helpers, all this creates a dreamlike feel, and a rather uncomfortable one at that. How many people would enjoy dreaming they’re stuck in a nursing home for geriatrics? Okay, so Shelley Duvall is wearing her skimpies, certainly not a bad thing, but you get the point.

There is such a strong sense of ambiguity to the film—what exactly happens to Edgar? The way Pinky reacts when she sees her parents—who is right and who is wrong here? Robert Altman, the film’s director, leaves it to the audience to fill in the blanks. It’s definitely one to wrestle with long after seeing it.

I’d be surprised if any one of us hadn’t met at least one person like Millie. By the way, I think that the people in the movie who ignored Millie were just awful, especially her neighbours, although in a way Millie has it coming and gets what she deserves. She breaks a “sort of…tentative date” with a guy she’s “stood up” many times before to meet with some friends but gets upset when they no-show and blames it on Pinky. Now, maybe there wasn’t any sort of date that Millie had to break and she was only saying that to impress her friend on the telephone, but if this is the sort of careless attitude that Millie promotes then is it any surprise that Millie’s so-called friends treat her with the same contempt?

Having just watched this movie and digesting a few brief snippets of Robert Altman’s commentary, he provides some rather interesting insight into his film. I said earlier that we probably all know a Millie. I’ll go one further: I think most women are Millie, or have a lot of Millie in them—drowning themselves in glossy women’s magazines in some search for identity—now that I think about it, there’s something very Stepford-like about Millie, except she’s nobody’s wife, but she’s always obsessing over recipes and decorations and doing all she can to impress the menfolk. It’s hard to know who is less stable, Millie or Pinky, and Altman keeps us guessing as to who will go off the deep end first.

One could say so much about this film; as I said, it’s definitely one to wrestle with; it has a lot to say about human personalities, the search for one’s own identity, isolation, adoration and the desire to be accepted. Universal themes, so more’s the pity that 99 percent of audiences would run screaming from this movie due to its slow-burn quality and sense of ambiguity. It’s a film that demands people to think and draw their own conclusions, but a lot of people don’t like those sorts of things, you know, the minor inconveniences of thinking and drawing their own conclusions.

I must say, I do like how Pinky is supposedly from Quitman, Texas—the same hometown of Sissy Spacek, the actress who plays her. Almost like Pinky is stealing a little bit of Sissy’s life, too—the character taking over the actress. It’s a rather clever touch. Also, I like the way that Shelley, as Millie, keeps catching her skirt in the car door, something that Altman claimed was unintentional—could’ve fooled me, it’s another great touch. Suits Millie’s character perfectly.

Mark – I think I’ve finally found something we can agree on: Shelley Duvall and 3 Women! :P Shelley Duvall is incredible!! And to think that Family Guy made fun of her! Those are all great pictures you posted – thanks!!

You can sign me up for the 3 Women fan club.

Shelley Duvall is absolutely gorgeous. She has what I think of as Barbra Streisand Syndrome—classic beauty but for some reason everyone makes fun of how she looks—like Babs she is considered as something of an ugly duckling in some circles. Probably because she has exaggerated cartoonish features.
I never watch Family Guy, by the way. I think a lot of those “clever” cartoons in the tradition of The Simpsons would be in real trouble if they weren’t allowed to reference pop culture icons. It seems like they are built around them.

I would love to see Queen Shelley on the big screen again.

Mark only likes 3 Women because it’s in English and has actors he likes. If it was in French, he would say it’s pretentious and reject it ;-)

C’mon, you know it’s the truth ;-)

And 3 Women is one of Altman’s best.

This is definitely one to watch more than once. I saw it again a few months ago and have a much higher opinion of it than I had before. I agree about the dreaminess of it, and think that this peculiar awkward dream can really only take place in the Mojave. So besides a very well chosen cast, Altman picked the perfect setting.

one of the best desert movies for sure ^

A more valid argument would be that I only like it because it puts Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek in the same frame so often. Seriously though, it’s an intriguing idea for a film, and I think it’s executed pretty well. It would definitely benefit from repeat screenings.

I wish I had more to say about it, aside from just “it’s great!” How about the pacing? I thought it was paced really well… the slowness and relative unimportance of most of the scenes really contributed to the atmosphere.

And it’s such a travesty that Shelley Duvall isn’t in more movies… does anybody know her address? I would REALLY like to write her a fan letter.

P.S. – Thanks again for the pictures, Mark!!

Aaaaw, don’t thank me—thank the photographers and the impracticality of enforcing copyright laws on the Internet!

“And it’s such a travesty that Shelley Duvall isn’t in more movies”

Not really: this is Shelley’s choice. She has lots of irons in the fire apart from acting. And I admire the older actresses for not taking work for the sake of taking work. It mean they don’t end up doing a bunch of crap, and it also allows younger folks like myself the chance to catch up on their catalogue of work. But I sometimes resist seeing certain films on DVD (a least for a while) in hopes that there shall be a retrospective of the director’s work at the local cinemateque…I know that Robert Altman cast Shelley in a whole bunch of films back in the 1970s. Put together an Altman retrospective with these films plus MASH (which didn’t feature S.D.) and I’d be there with bells on.

Apart from seeing more of her films I’d like to revisit some of her other work. It’s been many years since I saw films like Time Bandits and Roxanne. The former was quite popular with children back in the 1980s.

“does anybody know her address? I would REALLY like to write her a fan letter”

Why settle for sending a fan letter? If I knew her address, I’d prefer to bust through her door with an axe.

Another quality about 3 Women that hasn’t been mentioned: it just appears timeless.

The films looks like it could’ve been made anywhere from the late ‘70s up until somewhere in the ’90s, OR (if you don’t know who Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall are) maybe even as recently as yesterday—it just doesn’t “look” that much like a 1970s film.

it is one of those movies that leaves a lasting impression of questions when you finish it. It is one of my favorite Altman movies ever.

Did anyone else notice the Quitman, Texas thing when they first saw the movie? (It’s Sissy Spacek’s hometown). Shelleys’ character Millie is from Houston, same as Shelley (I didn’t make the connection about Shelley/Millie until after the film—Quitman is more obviously of the “not-a-coincidence” variety because who else comes from Quitman?—hence it jumped out at me straight away).

Remember the doll with the laughter that Pinky (Sissy) mimicks later in the movie? I had one of those laughing thingies when I was a kid, it must be around the house somewhere. Except it wasn’t a doll, it was a laughing box inside an orange bag with a clown’s face on it. You’d hit the button and it would make exactly the same noise.

When I saw the film I thought to myself “I have one of those!”

(I also have a soup bowl exactly the same as the one that Burgess Meredith has in Rocky II, in fact it’s no more than two feet from me).

Sissy does that laugh so well…it’s rather disconcerting, like she’s possessed!

Just a minor observation – I noticed on a rewatch the other day that 3 Women fails the reverse-Bechdel test. There are several men in the film, but the only time you hear them conversing with each other is remotely, almost as background noise. And even then, the conversation is about someone’s wife/girlfriend.

that is completely awesome ^

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Time Bandits. Wikipedia lists Duvall as “Pansy”. What part does she play in the film?

BTW, 2 thumbs, 2 big toes, and a pelvic thrust up for 3 Women!!!

she and palin have recurring bit parts as vincent and pansy, lovers destined to be tormented throughout time

“I need fruit!”

Watching 3 Women tonight.

Haha, thanks Ruby. Duvall is cute as a button!!! She is “button-esque”. :)

DP, so a quote:

“This is my parking space. It’s the best one! "

To answer the question of the OP, “what makes 3 Women such a special film?”:

Because it made Polaris’s Top 20 Mubi User Poll! Whoohoo!! Viva la Altman!

Love 3 Women. Duvall is awesome, as is Spacek.

A mysterious film. And I agree with David — definitely a film to be savored many times.