This is a great Greenaway film. And like most Greenaway films, it is stuck in its own little universe. If you step into that universe and not like it, you will most likely walk out, never to return. But for us that love Greenaway's universe, we will stay and make ourselves a pot of the strangest tea and drink it, greedily.The plot revolves around an older man, who had just lost his wife of many years, and his son. They watch Fellini and decide to capture some woman to make a harem of their desires. Some women come there to satisfy a debt, another comes of her own free will, as long as they pay her $75,000 a year. Each woman has an interesting back story. One is addicted to gambling, one loves her horse, one loves to have babies, one is a nun, one is a martyring maid, one is in a wheelchair. Each of these woman could be a character from a Fellini film.The movie is filled with a lot of wit and irony, once the women come to the house. The women start making demands and by the end, the movie is dropped into a metaphoric and Shakespearian tragic end. I won't give any more details than that.The lighting, mood and story of this movie is completely original. Some viewers might not like the frankness of the dialog and/or the nudity of both sexes, but I feel it ranks right up there with Greenway's other films, like Tulse Luper Suitcases, The Falls, Zoo, Drowning by Numbers, etc. I heard it was a sexist movie, but I have seen more sexism in slapstick comedies and films like In The Company of Men. I usually look for a good story and interesting characters, be they flawed or not, and 8 !/2 Women delivers both. I wasn't bored for a second watching this.The director makes his own little world. It's an odd world and has different moral standards, but that is part of its charm viewers tend to miss.

I am giving this pretentious piece of garbage a 1 simply because i don't believe there is a worse movie in the world.I hate this movie, i hate the acting, dialog, setting, writing and directing. I hope everyone that was involved in this movie burns and rots in the darkest circle of hell.Damn this disgusting waste of time.I pray every day that this movie is just a figment of my imagination. i pray that i dreamt the movie, and that i will never have to see it at my local video store again.BURN IN HELL

Greenaway's '8 1/2 Women' does indeed require patience, i recently watched the film with a friend who found '8 1/2...' tiresome towards the end, though it was an enjoyable experience for both us- we laughed at more than a few of the scenes, particularly a scene in the first half hour in which Storey and his father attend the funeral of their beloved mother/wife. The film is a big improvement on 'Prospero's Books', but none of the characters live up to the hilarious performance of Michael Gambon in 'The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover'. If you enjoy subtle, slow-paced narratives then you will find '8 1/2' worth watching, it is strikingly original and in some ways quite shocking- overall an enjoyable piece of work.

Movies have put me to sleep before, but no movie has ever done that twice, so it took me three sittings actually to finish it. The dialog was bad. Women spoke stiltedly and the men were caricatures. And two of the supposedly Japanese women looked Chinese, had Chinese names and spoke with clearly Chinese accents. I'm still trying to figure out why the Emmenthal men were sexually wrapped up with each other. 10 minus 8 1/2 equals a tough choice: Do I give this movie a rating of one? or two?Movies have put me to sleep before, but no movie has ever done that twice, so it took me three sittings actually to finish it. The dialog was bad. Women spoke stiltedly and the men were caricatures. And two of the supposedly Japanese women looked Chinese, had Chinese names and spoke with clearly Chinese accents. I'm still trying to figure out why the Emmenthal men were sexually wrapped up with each other. 10 minus 8 1/2 equals a tough choice: Do I give this movie a rating of one? or two?