film / 2022
Women Talking
A group of women turn a hayloft meeting into a decision about safety, belief, and the right to leave.
Verified facts
- Runtime
- 1h 44m
- Director
- Sarah Polley
- Released
- 2022
- Based on
- Women Talking
PlotGeeks explainer signals
Why read this explainer
Doing nothing, fighting, and leaving offer different risks. Listen for how each woman's experience changes what protection of the children means.
PlotGeeks note
The hayloft gives the women a temporary space for deliberation. Departure carries their decision into a future beyond that protected conversation.
Connected knowledge
Connected in PlotGeeks
Related explainers and browse pages for Women Talking.
- Compare with Women Talking (2018 book)
Compare what changes between the 2018 book and the 2022 film.
Timeline
Major events
- The assaults are acknowledged
The women learn that their suffering was deliberately inflicted.
- The vote is tied
Representatives meet to decide between fighting and leaving.
- Leaving wins agreement
Personal testimony changes the remaining objections.
- The wagons depart
The decision becomes action before the men return.
Story in 60 Seconds
The short version
After discovering that men have been drugging and raping women and girls in their isolated colony, the women must decide what to do before the men return. A tied vote sends representatives to a hayloft to debate fighting or leaving. August records their discussion because they were denied literacy. Ona, Salome, Mariche, and the older women disagree about violence, forgiveness, children, and faith. Their arguments gradually become a plan, but each choice carries consequences for family members who cannot all be persuaded.
Spoiler sectionEnding ExplainedShow ending detailsHide ending details
The women leave with the children they have agreed to take, while August remains to teach the boys left behind. Salome secretly forces her unwilling son to come, exposing a contradiction in their commitment to choice. Ona's baby appears in the final sequence. Departure creates the possibility of another life without depicting its destination as already secure.
Original context
Why it matters
What the conflict reveals
The limited time before the men's return gives the meeting immediate consequences. Disagreement matters because the women must turn a collective decision into protection and departure.
Key turning points
Leaving wins agreement
Greta's apology to Mariche connects the debate about forgiveness to harm within their own families. Agreement becomes possible when past demands for endurance are acknowledged.
Character links
Who connects to whom
Character motivations
What drives the characters
The women want safety without surrendering faith or responsibility for their children. Their disagreement comes from different experiences of harm, not a simple divide between courage and fear.
Adaptation