Woman Times Seven
The poster you see there is one of the reasons I ended up watching the film. I knew about the movie a long time ago, but despite my love for little compilation films, I never felt very compelled to watch it. See, I have always had contradicting feelings about Shirley MacLaine. I saw her in “Irma la Douce”, “The Trouble with Harry”, “The Apartment”, “Being There”, “Bernie” and finally “Downton Abbey” – no doubt she is an awesome actress and very versatile. But I never really understood what is so great about her, and I thought that a lot of her roles are rather vapid – if you think about it, Billy Wilder really loves somewhat dumb female characters and MacLaine’s Irma is no different behind her feisty facade. (Sorry, Loris.) I digress. One day, I saw “Beginners” in which this lovely poster is perhaps more prominent than any character in the film and ever since, “Woman Times Seven” has been on my mind.
Thank goodness for “Beginners”. If you never really got Shirley MacLaine (like me), this film may convince you otherwise as well. After seeing the last story (“Jean”), if you have not fallen for the utterly adorable Shirley MacLaine, you must not be into women. She is probably the cutest Hollywood actress ever (especially considering that most of them try to go for the glamorous image). Throughout these seven different stories, only one of them shows her as cute, but the others are no less funny. She can indeed do tragic, maniac, silly, air-headed, anything really. And oh I love the way she sobs! It makes me want to burst out into laughter every single time.
I also don’t understand those haters complaining on how Vittorio de Sica ended up only making commercial comedies. That may be true, but why is that a bad thing? “Marriage Italian Style” is perfectly funny and while de Sica may have become less political or even meaningful, he still makes wonderfully funny films. That’s all that’s needed if you ask me. Sometimes I just love these Italian comedies.
Bottom line, I loved the movie. Today’s hail of bullets contains a few comments on each segment:
- Paulette: Honestly, this is my favorite of all of them. Peter Sellers is a genius (but we already knew that from “Dr. Strangelove”) and the two of them have an amazing chemistry. Best sobs of all times.
- Maria Teresa: OK actually Shirley MacLaine is a little cute in this one as well. While this may be the most stupid of all the segments, it was still fun.
- Linda: They certainly could have shown us more of her nakedness but even so, I really enjoyed this slightly predictable segment. The main character’s monologues are awesome. Also, I would never cheat on Marlon Brando.
- Edith: My least favorite segment actually. That husband shall die of blindness.
- Eve: It may be easy for Hollywood divas to play bitch fights, but this one is particularly amusing. This segment probably has one of the best lines in the whole film.
- Marie: I wasn’t very fond of this one, despite the fact that it’s quite well-scripted. The humor is wonderfully absurd and the actors convey it well, but the topic itself just made me yawn. I do love the architecture of the hotel and how the very last shot showcases it.
- Jean: Michael Caine certainly is cute! This segment is absolutely perfect. Parisian streets in snow, a glamorous Anita Ekberg, stylish 60’s winter clothing and, as I cannot stress enough, an absolutely adorable Shirley MacLaine. It also has a lovely story. This segment seems to be a fan favorite and I can see why.