Excellent, creative film.
Added 9/17/2009
This 84 minute film, shot in around two weeks, edited by hand on a Mac and employing a decidedly different visual appearance might seem to viewers to be too low budget or hand-made to be not worth watching. However, if you do watch it, you'll find it a rich, interesting and captivating gem of a film, well worth the effort it takes to see it!
The film centers around two people - never named - who meet at a wedding reception and share an intense chemistry. Flirting turns to passion - and that's where the interesting part of the story begins: in the conversations that follow.
The technique of shooting in split screen could easily have turned into a gimmick or an Oscar bid with bigger-budget movies. Here, however, it is perfectly used - providing two sides of the same story, past and present, here and there and points of view. We as an audience can edit the film ourselves, and while the process does take time to get used to, it leaves us with a film that will change every time we see it and gives us an almost infinite chance to notice new things.
But the real showcase of this film is not the visuals or the budget: it is the acting. Helena Bonham-Carter soars as the far-from-home, potentially unhappy Woman, managing to show both comedic timing and realistic heartbreak. Not to be outdone, Aaron Eckhart gives a convincing performance as the witty yet troubled Man, and providing a perfect Yang to Bonham-Carter's Yin. The two actors have incredible chemistry, making the flirtatious opening scenes even more convincing, and fun.
The DVD itself has some pretty nice extras, including an interview with Aaron and Helena that was not widely released, in addition to a feature commentary with the director and a few other, more technical extras. Also worth mentioning is the soundtrack, most of which is by French singer/songwriter and recent First Lady, Carla Bruni whose folk voice lends the perfect atmosphere to the action.
In short, this is not a film to miss.
4.5/5
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Good Stuff
Added 9/12/2009
The movie came in about three days. It works very well. Not a single issue with it. Glad I bought it from these guys. Will most likely buy from them again.
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Fantastic Movie
Added 9/2/2009
This is one of my favorite movies ever! Both Helena and Aaron do a fantastic job and as the viewer, you get to peek into their characters' minds and little subtle jokes. Great buy--beautiful movie. 5 stars!
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Very Well Done
Added 8/9/2009
Warning...spoilers
This is an intriguing movie. I normally don't like films that are all dialogue, but "Conversations with Other Women" hooked me pretty quickly. I think it's all down to the fact that Helena Bonham-Carter and Aaron Eckhart having a great deal of charisma and chemistry together and the fact that the dialogue rings true and sparkles.
As for the split screen depiction, initially I found myself hoping it would go away, but once I settled into the movie, I didn't mind it and thought it sometimes added to the story (but it would be interesting to see a version where most everything was done on one screen).
Turning to the story, it's pretty simple. Bonham-Carter and Eckhart meet at a wedding. At first, they way they talk, you would think they don't know each other. But then you start to realize and the film reveals that they were once married and that marriage ended with Bonham-Carter's character packing up and moving to London and marrying an older man. Eventually, the two (ex)lovers retire to her hotel room and have sex and talk about the past and the future.
I think it's a testimony to the chemistry that the two stars have and the dialogue of the film that I did not find their actions sleazy or reprehensible (Bonham-Carter's character cheating on her husband and Eckhart cheating on his much younger girlfriend). Through their conversations and the flashbacks shown on the split screen, we see just how much love and passion once existed between them. I'm left with the opinion that their divorce happened so quickly and they were cut off from each other so rapidly, their love didn't die but just went on hiatus...only to come back at full burn when they met again at the wedding.
I'm left wondering what would happen after the story ended. Frankly, it's hard to see how either of them could have just gone back to where they were before (for example, Bonham-Carter's character's protestations that she's happy in her life in London ring false...and Eckhart makes it very clear that he never got over her). I'd like to think that in the fictional world where these two lovers exist, Bonham-Carter's character did return to London and wound up her marriage there before coming back to Eckhart's character in New York. I couldn't help but notice that the split screen finally united at the very end of the movie and perhaps that symbolizes a hopeful future.
The movie isn't perfect. I thought that a bit of the sex scene in the hotel was rather graphic (not for me, but older and more conservative people would probably be put off by it). Also, the idea that the two characters would have identical cell phones that would allow Bonham-Carter's character to answer a call from Eckhart's girlfriend seemed a bit improbable (as did the idea that the girlfriend would not have instantly realized why this had happened). But those aren't significant enough flaws to take away from the rewarding experience that watching the film was for me (and I bought a copy from amazon.com right before posting this).
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"There are no happy endings in our future."
Added 7/29/2009
The film starts as a casual meeting of a man (Aaron Eckhart) and a woman (Helen Bonham Carter) on the wedding banquet in a New York City Hotel. They seem to know each other and used to be close once. Now she is married to a doctor, the cardiologist, and lives in London. He has a steady girlfriend, a "23 on August 12" Broadway Show Dancer. They seem to like each other and flirt innocently while drinking champagne, smoking (she is) and dancing. But gradually, apparently forgotten or hidden very deep inside feelings come back to life so intensely that they might (or not) change a man's and a woman's lives again.
This is my kind of film, with only two main characters, with the subtle interaction between them, when we have to rely more on their body languages, their eyes, their facial expressions than to the words that they say to each other. "Conversations with Other Women" is a riveting, bittersweet, honest, and realistic movie about making choices, losses, and regrets. Two people used to be the one world which had split years ago leaving them not just on the different continents but on the different halves of the screen. The film brings to mind Before Sunrise of course but its atmosphere is more sober and melancholic. It is not about possibility of future together, it is all about past. Both actors are excellent. The split screen technique works perfectly for the whole duration of the film. It is a very well made and creative indie picture which I enjoyed watching.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Excellent, creative film.
Added 9/17/2009
This 84 minute film, shot in around two weeks, edited by hand on a Mac and employing a decidedly different visual appearance might seem to viewers to be too low budget or hand-made to be not worth watching. However, if you do watch it, you'll find it a rich, interesting and captivating gem of a film, well worth the effort it takes to see it!
The film centers around two people - never named - who meet at a wedding reception and share an intense chemistry. Flirting turns to passion - and that's where the interesting part of the story begins: in the conversations that follow.
The technique of shooting in split screen could easily have turned into a gimmick or an Oscar bid with bigger-budget movies. Here, however, it is perfectly used - providing two sides of the same story, past and present, here and there and points of view. We as an audience can edit the film ourselves, and while the process does take time to get used to, it leaves us with a film that will change every time we see it and gives us an almost infinite chance to notice new things.
But the real showcase of this film is not the visuals or the budget: it is the acting. Helena Bonham-Carter soars as the far-from-home, potentially unhappy Woman, managing to show both comedic timing and realistic heartbreak. Not to be outdone, Aaron Eckhart gives a convincing performance as the witty yet troubled Man, and providing a perfect Yang to Bonham-Carter's Yin. The two actors have incredible chemistry, making the flirtatious opening scenes even more convincing, and fun.
The DVD itself has some pretty nice extras, including an interview with Aaron and Helena that was not widely released, in addition to a feature commentary with the director and a few other, more technical extras. Also worth mentioning is the soundtrack, most of which is by French singer/songwriter and recent First Lady, Carla Bruni whose folk voice lends the perfect atmosphere to the action.
In short, this is not a film to miss.
4.5/5
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Good Stuff
Added 9/12/2009
The movie came in about three days. It works very well. Not a single issue with it. Glad I bought it from these guys. Will most likely buy from them again.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Fantastic Movie
Added 9/2/2009
This is one of my favorite movies ever! Both Helena and Aaron do a fantastic job and as the viewer, you get to peek into their characters' minds and little subtle jokes. Great buy--beautiful movie. 5 stars!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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