Conversations with Other Women

Conversations with Other Women

2005

dir. Hans Canosa st. Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Eckhart


A film that develops more like a play than a film, Conversations with Other Women has the plot unwind ever so slowly, even coming to a complete stop at some points. Only at the end, do you realize that what you have just seen is indeed not a chick flick, but a film dealing with both emotions of the sexes. The 'chance-encounter-lovers' played by Bonham Carter and Eckhart, are so realistic, that this film is that much more relatable and you sense that you can find these two lovers anywhere on the street.


Hans Canosa utilizes split screen, so it's like you are watching two films for the price of one. This artistic aspect of the film has a love hate relation at some points, you want to see Bonham Carter on a full screen, not half a screen. But you soon realize that this idea of splitting the screen works really well when there are flashbacks involved. You can see the flashback, and yet continue with the present, which also cuts the film running time dramatically. Instead of this film being two hours, it's only eight-four minutes, which is the perfect length for a romantic film.

I will not call this film a chick flick on account of that it does not use stock characters. The writers made this film have a light aspect about it by the playful banter that is used very appropriately and in the correct places. This is also not a chick flick in the sense that this film, despite it's appearence of being one, it deals with darker sides of the human emotions and mental thought, showing both sides of the situation.

I'm now disappointed that this gem of a film has not been shown in the mainstream crowd, this is not the typical indie film of "boy meets girl, girls breaks boy heart by leaving him," and leaving you with two options for an ending: "boy meets new girl," or, "girl comes back to boy."

This is a film that must be mainstreamed for it's quality of characters, dialogue, cinematography, and storyline are very well thought out.