THE WOMEN

US, 2008, 114 minutes, Colour.
Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Eva Mendez, Candice Bergen, Debi Mazar, Cloris Leachman, Carrie Fisher, Joanna Gleeson.
Directed by Diane English.

Back in 1939, Clare Booth Luce's acerbic play, The Women, was adapted for the screen with more acerbic lines and tone by Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). The play and film were meant to be quite stringent satiric barbs at gossiping New York socialites. It had a total female cast, was directed by George Cukor, and its black and white narrative finished with a fashion show in colour. It was remade and updated in the mid-1950s as a musical, The Opposite Sex.

Can a satire of the 1930s be brought successfully into the 21st century? Originally, writer-director, Diane English (who was the creator and writer for ten years of the popular TV show, Murphy Brown) wanted to make it in the 1990s but finance was not forthcoming. With the popularity of such shows as Sex and the City, there seems to be a place for it now. It does cover a great deal of Sex and the City territory but casts its net a little wider and is not so preoccupied with the principle of 'Expensive is best' (well, at times it is!).

While staying with the general thrust of the play and the film, this version is not quite so acerbic, not quite so barbed in its satire. It has a softer approach in general. Many reviewers referred to it as in the 'chick-flick' vein which is not entirely wrong.

On the whole, the film seems to lack a little oomph. This is evident when Candice Bergen turns up (and she was TV's Murphy Brown herself). She is a strong presence and has some telling lines and delivers them with an elan that raises the level of the film's temperature. Not that the performances aren't good and frequently effective. Once again, there is a large female cast. Meg Ryan is the central character, happily married, she thinks. She is a genial socialite who is having problems with her teenage daughter. Candice Bergen plays her mother. Annette Bening does well as the ageing professional women who is not above gossip and is prepared to be disloyal to her best friend for career's sake. Debra Messing has a good role as the pregnant friend, used to noise and mess – and she gives her all to the birth sequence at the end.

There are assorted cameo appearances by Cloris Leachman, Bette Midler, Debi Mazar, Joanna Gleeson and Carrie Fisher.

And the femme fatale (played by Joan Crawford and Joan Collins in the previous versions) is Eva Mendes.

Enjoyable enough, depending on one's interest in gossip, fashion, relationships and quips, but it doesn't quite stay in the memory.

1. Play and film of the 1930s? Updated to the 21st century? Successfully or not?

2. The perspectives on women, in the United States, in Western culture, women’s autonomy, lack of autonomy, treatment of women, women as objects? Love, marriage, affairs? Coping? Children, family, giving birth? Women in the workplace? Transitions from the 20th to the 21st century?

3. The ensemble cast, no men appearing, except the baby boy at the end?

4. The impact of the lack of male presence, noticed or not? Steve and his story, Alan and Edie and fidelity and infidelity, Mary’s father, Sylvia’s boss, reports about them all their phone calls bringing them into the story?

5. New York, Connecticut, world of affluence, glamour, women’s magazines, the world of fashion? A portrait of this kind of women in society, critique? Saks Fifth Avenue? charity dinners?

6. The feminine perspective, the contribution of Clare Booth Luce and Anita Loos in the 1930s? Ahead of their time? The work of Diane English? How successful with this film?

7. Themes of friendship, the single career woman, mothers, working mothers, the Lesbian and her partner? The grandmother generation? The guests at the dinners? Bailey and the world of the writer? Crystal and her work in the store? The manicurist and her gossip? Maggie and her work in the kitchen, Mary’s daughter a a significant female presence, the au pair?

8. The first act: the party and its preparation? The introduction to Sylvie, her work at the magazine, her life and style, gossiping, barbed wit? Getting her nails done, listening to the manicurist, the discovery of the affair? Going to visit Edie, with the kids? Edie and her pregnancy? The large family? Alex, the Lesbian, her model partner and her moods? Mary, at home, busy, in the garden, cooking, the shower and getting ready for the party, her daughter’s request for help with the assignment? The guests, the success of the party, Mary’s achievement?

9. The group and talking about Mary, keeping the affair secret? Mary and her visit to the manicurist, listening to the chatter, discovering the truth, her reaction? Her friends’ reaction to her knowing?

10. The second act: dealing with the affair? Sylvie and her making friends with Mary’s daughter, chats, the phone calls, support? The boss and the pressure on the magazine, the staff meeting, the younger girls with creative ideas, an issue on revenge, Sylvie finally having to propose this to save the magazine? The discussions with Bailey, the issue of betraying Mary, Sylvie’s motivations, the publication of the article? Mary seeing it, her reaction to Sylvie’s betrayal?

11. Edie and the group, going to Saks, confronting Crystal, the bluntness? Her own secret? Revelation in the hospital?

12. Mary’s mother, a character, her marriage, the meeting with Mary, the meal, talking about her past, the affair, her pride, determination, time wasted and not doing what she wanted to do, the bond with her daughter?

13. Mary, the gossip, its effect on her? Separating from Steve, her moods, at home, the reaction of her daughter? Not answering phone calls?

14. Maggie, at work in the kitchen, her blunt talk to Mary? The au pair in the house?

15. Crystal, the audience hearing about her, the gossip, the affair, her motivation? The style and look? At work, the issue of the perfume, the three confronting her at the counter? Her comments, about Stephen, her attitude towards the affair?

16. Act three: the resolution? Mary, the change, becoming independent, going to see her mother when she was having plastic surgery, her mother giving her the finance for designing her clothes? The dress shop, Crystal in the other room, Sylvie urging Mary to confront her, the discussions, the effect on each of the women, Sylvie listening in? Outside, on the steps, the reconciliation with Sylvie? Sylvie giving up her job? Mary’s problems about her daughter and her reliance on Sylvie?

17. Mary, her father, expecting to get the company, her father firing her, becoming creative, preparing for the show, the show itself, the style of the dresses, the catwalk, the audience, those attending, her daughter proud of her, her friends, the Saks buyer?

18. The daughter and her friend, smoking, confiding in Sylvie, going to her father’s place, the discussion with Crystal in the bath?

19. Edie, going to the hospital, giving birth, the three women and their participating, the effect on each of them, the staff? The birth of the boy? Edie talking about forgiveness and her own lapse with Alan?

20. The phone call, Steve, the possibilities for reconciliation and forgiveness?

21. The credits at the end, the various images, the new magazine, the comments of the women?