3 Women

Renton47

On repeat I'm convinced that 3 Women is less strange once it succumbs to surrealism, for it is sufficiently mystical when capturing the transactions of its two leads. So suggestive of the dynamics that make us desperate for love and able to push away our biggest fan (fluidity). It is casually terrifying and sad, quite unlike anything else in cinema, plus Duvall gives one of my favourite ever performances.

ig_____or

The moody soundtrack is an important clue for the second-half of the movie, when things turn very meta and cerebral. What started off as a platonic friendship wrapped in lovely, kitschy colours, clothes and sets, ends on a weird, mysterious place, where identity is lost and girl power arises. Spacek plays lunatic so well and Duvall is so easy breezy wannabe trophy-wife. Also, best swimming pool ever <3

Jason

Altman's Bergman-esque riff on identity and polarities of power is secretly about God. And if it is secretly about God, it is secretly about a malevolent God. There is something deeply insidious, poisoning the space between people, reducing them to wounded competitors, removing solidarity, once and for all, from the feminine equation. It was a hard movie to get to see when I was growing up. The world has improved.

Duncan Gray

An unforgettable mindfuck that works its way under your skin. Are all three women one? Are they a family? Is it, like Mulholland Drive, a dream that reflects an ugly reality? Look closely and decide, and the best thing is that it doesn't give up Altman's quirks or his humor: this nightmare is full of distinctly American kitsch, like Bergman decided to remake Persona on the set of The Brady Bunch. A masterpiece.

Lights in the Dusk

Altman's strangest film. A pre-Lynch take on Lynchian themes of dissociation, identity, alienation, the blurring of perspectives. Nods to Persona escape the curse of empty imitation by being delivered in Altman's unique & characteristic style; the camera drifting nomadically across complex scenes; picking out startling shots, strange objects, moments that seems inconsequential but make sense on reflection. Haunting.

josé neves

4,5.Years ago i thought it was a clever variation of a Bergman-ish kammerspiel and refused it. Now i admire its use of sequence-shot and abstract effects on a mythology of parasitic loneliness that comes from McCullers and O'Connor writing, without refusing Bergman's "Persona" or "Tystnaden" influences. An endless variation on the ever-changing rule-dominated processes, by means of a plastic impressive concentration.

mjgildea

Hypnotic and haunting. 3 Women almost felt like an American version of Persona. My exposure to Altman before this was pretty limited but I'm definitely curious now. His direction was amazing and the photography was gorgeous. And that dream sequence was nuts. Spacek and Duvall were fantastic, especially after the pivotal pool scene. This one definitely stays with you...

João Eça

Truly one of the most profound films about the void of society, the inabilty to communicate, the castration of identity, the loneliness of people, the desire to remain a child, the cult of one's image and the fusion of personas. Altman's radical treatment on multiple layers of space, overlapping sound, minimalist narrative and acting, monochromatic color and a montage of intervals creates a breathtaking masterpiece.