The Women

The Women

Based on George Cukor’s 1939 film and Clare Boothe Luce’s 1936 stage play, ‘The Women’ whisks us into a busy pocket of Manhattan society, where the publishing, fashion and finance industries play. At the center of the tale is Ryan’s character, Mary Haines, a thoroughly modern woman suddenly confronted with an age-old dilemma; a cheating husband.

The ladies in her life swiftly rally to Mary’s side, led by her best friend, Sylvie Fowler, a dynamic magazine editor played by Bening. But when Sylvie betrays Mary in a Faustian bargain, the entire group is shaken to the core–and two women face the most painful breakup of all, their friendship.

Multi-Generational Tapestry

Like its predecessors, ‘The Women’ unfolds in an entirely female world; men are richly portrayed, but are never seen onscreen. Making her feature debut, English creates a multi-generational tapestry that encompasses post-feminist baby boomers, post-menopausal women and pre-teen girls.

Fittingly, ‘The Women’ boasts one of the most impressive rosters of female actors ever assembled in one film. Joining Ryan and Bening in the principal cast are Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Candice Bergen, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman, Carrie Fisher, and Debi Mazar. The supporting cast includes superb veterans Joanna Gleason and Lynn Whitfield as well as fresh young faces Tilly Scott Pedersen and India Ennenga.

A Perfect Life

Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) appears to have a perfect life: a beautiful home in Connecticut, a lovely 12-year old daughter, a successful Wall Street honcho husband, and a part-time career as a designer for her father’s clothing company. Mary not only seems to have it all, she seems to do it all: whether it’s planting perennials in the garden; following in her mother’s footsteps as co-chair of a Central Park women’s committee; or personally doing the cooking for a benefit luncheon, despite having the full-time help of her beloved housekeeper Maggie, (Cloris Leachman) and a nanny, Uta (Tilly Scott Pederson). If she’s a little frazzled at times, who can blame her?

One thing Mary can always count on is the wonderful company of her girlfriends, like her best pal, style maven Sylvie Fowler (Annette Bening). A woman of impeccable chic and rapier wit, Sylvie is happily single and at the top of her field as the newly-installed editor of the venerable women’s magazine Cachet. Mary and Sylvie’s close-knit circle also includes Edie Cohen (Debra Messing), an eccentric mother-hen to her girlfriends as well as her ever-expanding brood of children. And then there’s humor essayist Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith), a glamorous ladies’ lady with her own special gift for telling people the last thing they want to hear.

Trouble Starts

But for these longtime friends, all hell is about to break loose. The trouble starts at in the Beauty Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue, of all places, where Sylvie sits down with the hot new manicurist in town, Tanya (Debi Mazar). Within moments, chatty Tanya is spilling the beans about the store’s resident gold-digger, a perfume “spritzer girl” named Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes) who has landed one very big, married fish: a Wall Street tycoon named Stephen Haines. The anguished Sylvie finds herself in a dilemma, one that soon spreads to her girlfriends: what, if anything, to tell Mary? But before the friends can come to an agreement, Mary–who has just been fired from her job by her own father–ends up getting a manicure at Saks. From Tanya.

Advice From Mom

Mary’s female comrades close ranks around her, each offering strong opinions about what she should do. Ultimately, Mary decides to heed the advice of her mother Catherine (Candice Bergen), an irreverent parent who has grappled with any number of life issues, from straying husbands to aging. Together, Mary, Catherine and Mary’s daughter Molly (India Ennenga) take an all-girl break at Catherine’s summer cottage in Maine.

Meanwhile, Sylvie is having her own troubles at work, where her efforts to remake CACHET have yet to yield much success. With her dream job in danger, Sylvie tries to recruit famed gossip columnist Bailey Smith (Carrie Fisher) to write for the magazine. But Bailey – who is penning an exposé of Wall Street marriages — drives a hard bargain, with a nasty price: Mary’s privacy. Backed into a corner, Sylvie chooses career over her best friend.

For Mary, Sylvie’s betrayal is the cruelest blow of all. She cuts Sylvie out of her life and embarks on an extended period of soul-searching, with detours for sloppiness and sugar. Eventually, she lands at a women’s health camp high in the Berkshires, where she meets Leah “The Countess” Miller (Bette Midler), a flamboyant, reefer-loving Hollywood agent, whose buoyantly pragmatic philosophy proves inspirational.

Reconnection

Returning to New York, Mary begins to reconnect with the woman she has always been, but lost sight of in trying to be all things to all people. She finds a fresh clarity about what, and who, matters most to her in this world. That understanding will prove crucial on the day she comes face to face with the person who hurt her most deeply, but whose absence she feels most keenly: Sylvie. And so it is with a new sense of certainty that Mary Haines strides forward into her new life. She knows what she wants, and with a little help from all the women in her life, she’s going to get it, too.

Cast and Credits

Cast: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergman, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman, Debi Mazar

Directed by: Diane English
Rated Pg 13

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