3 Women (1977)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Randy T

  
  Robert Altman writes, produces and directs this film about the confluence of three 'damaged' women and their problematic interactions. The plot seems to meander here and there but Altman has a knack for getting an audience from point A to point B by way of points C, G and… More
  Robert Altman writes, produces and directs this film about the confluence of three 'damaged' women and their problematic interactions. The plot seems to meander here and there but Altman has a knack for getting an audience from point A to point B by way of points C, G and K.

• Graham J

  
  Altman's surreal masterpiece and Shelley Duvall's greatest performance.

• Steven C

  
  Robert Altman's "3 Women" was conceived in a dream and subsequently structured like one. Obviously, this has it pros and cons. While I suspect there is no clear one meaning to the film, it should mean something different to each viewer. The acting on display here is top… More
  Robert Altman's "3 Women" was conceived in a dream and subsequently structured like one. Obviously, this has it pros and cons. While I suspect there is no clear one meaning to the film, it should mean something different to each viewer. The acting on display here is top notch. Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek deliver two of their best performances and ultimately create a fascinating single character. "3 Women" is an uncomfortable 2 hours, full of frustration, anxiety and that hauntingly ever-present demonic artwork. One of, if not, Altman's most daring and obscure pictures. (Yes, even over "Images.")

• Pierluigi P

  
  A surreal tale of emotional vampirism. Key proof that there is no need to fully understand a film to find it utterly fascinating.

• Stella D

  
  an impressionist masterpiece from altman quite unlike his other works. the heavy symbolism, the desert setting (it sure does look like texas), water everywhere (spas, swimming pools, fish tanks), the wonderful mythic paintings, atonal soundtrack, and startling performances… More
  an impressionist masterpiece from altman quite unlike his other works. the heavy symbolism, the desert setting (it sure does look like texas), water everywhere (spas, swimming pools, fish tanks), the wonderful mythic paintings, atonal soundtrack, and startling performances (especially shelley duvall in one of the funniest and most heart-breaking characterizations i've ever seen on screen), the dream-logic (altman famously claimed he dreamed the film and it retains that surreal quality)...it will stay in your head. certainly it's kin to persona as mulholland drive is kin to this film with their mutual themes of identity theft/merger. it's just as eerie but with a good dose of squirm-inducing humor which those films are lacking. best not try to explain it, just see it with an open mind. one of the finest american films of the 1970's and that's saying something. 1 becomes 2, 2 become 3, 3 become 1

• Stephen M

  
  I may be wrong, but I always imagine "3 Women" turning off a portion of Altman aficionados, while at the same time enchanting some regular detractors of his work. A complete departure from his typical freewheeling, ensemble style of filmmaking, it has a haunting, dreamlike… More
  I may be wrong, but I always imagine "3 Women" turning off a portion of Altman aficionados, while at the same time enchanting some regular detractors of his work. A complete departure from his typical freewheeling, ensemble style of filmmaking, it has a haunting, dreamlike quality unlike anything else I've seen. It's a tough one to describe, but the titular women are: a socially invisible chatterbox (Shelley Duvall), her adoring, childlike protege (Sissy Spacek), and a near mute artist (Janice Rule), pregnant by Duvall and Spacek's lecherous, philandering landlord. Over the course of the film, a pair of cataclysmic events cause the women to twice exchange identities. Without giving too much away, the first such transfer is straightforward enough, prompted by temporary amnesia, but the second is more abstract and disturbing, motivated by guilt and loss. If all this sounds a little heavy-going, "3 Women" is often very funny, at the expense of Duvall's would-be domestic goddess and Spacek's wide-eyed innocent. Shelley Duvall is outstanding and Sissy Spacek is equally wonderful, but the film owes much of its haunting atmosphere to Janice Rule; the fact that she says very little is somehow more mysterious than if she were to say nothing at all.

• Chris B

  
  Robert Altman created 3 Women with no screenplay based on a dream he had. The film itself closely resembles various dreams and is filled with surreal and dreamlike qualities. The story of the three women and various men throughout are observed on a daily basis within their jobs and… More
  Robert Altman created 3 Women with no screenplay based on a dream he had. The film itself closely resembles various dreams and is filled with surreal and dreamlike qualities. The story of the three women and various men throughout are observed on a daily basis within their jobs and personal life, which is all flipped as the film progresses and an "accident" occurs.

• Brian R

  
  One of my fav Robert Altman films and a personal fav of mine. Everytime I watch it i'm taken away with the characters and the personas between Shelly Duvull, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule. 3 Women is a masterpiece.

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