Assembling a Community of Women Talking

Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Claire Foy, and director Sarah Polley on the set of Women Talking (Photo by Michael Gibson / Orion Pictures)

For a hyper-devout country, American cinema gets very itchy about talking about religion. Other than Martin Scorsese's careerlong rumination on his own Catholicism it's rare to see a film in which the beliefs of the characters are central. Yet they are the core concern of ensemble drama Women Talking. Writer/director Sarah Polley explained, "The film is about these women moving toward their faith, not away from it," and so her responsibility in telling the story was to meet them on their own terms, "without judgment, without preconceived notions."

Adapted from Miriam Toews' 2018 novel, Women Talking focuses on one night in a Mennonite community, in which eight women gather to make a choice: Stay, and face the men that have systematically raped them and all the other women there, or leave en masse and face an uncertain future. Polley said, "They are trying to parse out all these toxic, insidious structures that have sprung up around their faith and the faith itself." They are not rejecting anything, she said: "What they are fighting for is the best version of a Mennonite community."

Polley (the self-described child of a "militantly atheist family") said that even though the word "Mennonite" is never mentioned once, she felt obligated to accurately depict the inner and outer lives of the real women of these communities. She worked closely with Toews, who was raised Mennonite, and with Mennonite consultants to ensure authenticity. "I've also had a lot of interactions with these communities over the years, so it wasn't like I was taking this unknown thing that I could project all kinds of stereotypes."

It wasn't just about accuracy for accuracy's sake, but an ethical question. "We're making a film about people who cannot fight back." These isolated and insulated communities will not talk to the press, "and I think that you have to be very conscious of that if you're telling a story about a community."

At the same time, Polley had a second obligation: to women who have been sexually assaulted. The story of Women Talking is inspired by the 2011 convictions of eight Mennonite men for their part in the systematic drugging and raping of 151 women and girls in the Manitoba colony in Bolivia. "That's an important story to be told," she added.

The scale of the crimes is reflected in the breadth of casting of the ensemble, from veterans like Sheila McCarthy (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing) and Judith Ivey (Designing Women) to relative newcomers like Kate Hallett. The characters' responses also vary widely, from rage-filled Salome (Claire Foy, Unsane) to Mariche (Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose) who rebuffs the idea of dismantling their community. The casting reflected "a yearlong conversation about who was going to be in that hayloft," explained producer Dede Gardner. "You're building a community, you're building two families, you're building a multiplicity of generations. ... It was sort of weaving a tapestry."

Even with certain talents in place, the casting of individual roles switched as the chemistry and dynamics shifted, and characters were clarified through rewrites and conversations. For example, when Polley first met with Rooney Mara (Carol), she "didn't know if it was for Salome or Mariche." Instead, Mara became the serene Ona, a part Polley was originally considering for Foy. The director recalled telling the actress, halfway through their first meeting, "'I think you're Salome,' and she said, 'I'm definitely Salome.'"

It was the casting of relative newcomer Michelle McLeod as surly, secret smoker Mejal that provided the bedrock to which all those other choices were finally anchored. Gardner said, "I just had never seen anything like it. The character had seemed elusive to me until I'd seen her do it, and then there she was."

Women Talking opens Dec. 23. Read our review.