3 Women (1977)

The two main characters, both named Mildred have emigrated from Texas to a small dusty Californian town off the highway that could pass for Texas -- the younger Mildred remarks, "Sure does look like Texas". The attention- seeking, loquacious Mildred #1, alias "Millie" (Shelley Duvall) struts around like a yellow canary on stage reminding me of Norma Desmond from Sunset Blvd with the same lack of self awareness. Obviously imitating what she's sees in the glamor magazines she reads. The clumsy naive Mildred #2, alias "Pinky" (Sissy Spacek) who's even more clueless mistakes Millie's bravado as confidence immediately becoming her sycophant says she is "the most perfect person I've met" until an unexpected turn of events challenges their fan-idol relationship and their identities. It is a final crisis that resolves their "identity crisis" in the end involving a third women, Willie (Janice Rule), an artist that paints a mural with groupings of reptilian anthropomorphic beasts that include a pregnant female (like herself) and an alpha male standing erect with his huge "cock" (maybe blurred in some copies) which I presume represents her cock sure husband and possibly lover to the pair of Mildreds. This very surreal film some what of a black tragicomedy (if you can force it into a genre at all) evolved from a dream director, Robert Altman had, so don't expect a nice neat traditional Hollywood ending. I loved the film! One of his best IMO. It explores the female psyche so well, its hard for me to believe a male developed this from his own dream. The film is also a time capsule from the 70s. Millie loves the color yellow, drives a "French" mustard colored Pinto ( not to be confused with English mustard, she corrects the cops as they look for her stolen car) and has an apartment decorated in a combination of slick mod and lacy kitschy furnishing, all in yellow. Lots of double knit halters and peasant blouses fill her closet, all in yellow, of course. This cult classic is worth viewing just for the trip back to the groovy years. Would someone please comment about the reptilian art? Who was actual the artist?

Robert Altman's 3 WOMEN (1977) with Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek & Janice Rule, has remained my all-time favourite picture since I accidentally caught in on the Z-channel at 3 in the morning back when I was like 13... It remains Altman's least trademark work, filled with lots of non-sequitors, a very dream-like logic and structure, hints of surrealism, absurdism & devastating tragedy, one of the most original motion picture musical scores of all time (by Gerald Busby) and unquestionably Shelley Duvall's strongest, most moving and engaging performance of her entire career, it is also her single starring role... and the films ending segment, which ends in the strictly impressionistic, ambivalent surprise of Altman quietly 'pulling the rug out from underneath you', for my money perfectly compliments the rest of the film by slyly leaving everything you have just seen (and any of it's possible vague inflections about the human experience, and how and whatever any of the film intended to represent or comment on) completely and 100% up to your own personal interpretation... just as Donald Cammell's equally brilliant PERFORMANCE (1970) also succeeded in portraying and also shares practically the exact same deus-ex-machina of it's last final frames of film as does this largely unheralded, bona- fide Altman masterpiece, which has only managed to gain an incredible amount of momentum and word-of-mouth acceptance as the grand old dame of 1970's art house cinema of which it truly is.

Mildred 'Pinky' Rose is a (very) young girl from Texas who tries her luck in sunny California. She finds a job at a geriatric institution where she meets Millie Lammoreaux. Millie looks so confident that the heavy insecure Pinky soon sees her as a role model. This becomes creepy soon when Pinky tries to become Millie. In fact Millie is a lonely and insecure woman who hides her uncertainties behind constant babble. She becomes annoyed with Pinky and treats her very rude. So rude that Pinky tries to commit suicide. She is in a coma for a couple of days and when she wakes up she has taken over the personality of Millie including her rudeness.That's the main storyline of this movie but not the whole story. This movie is more about mood and atmosphere than it is about a plot. In fact Robert Altman worked out the film without a full script and he wasn't sure about how to end the story. The atmosphere is what makes this film a beautiful and sometimes creepy travel through the minds of the three women. There are long sequences of the paintings from Willie, the third woman. And there is a frightening dream sequence which shows a nightmare that Pinky experienced.In fact the three women are tied by a male: Edgar Hart, the husband of Willie who owns a saloon and the apartment where Millie and Pinky share a room. While his wife is pregnant he sleeps with Millie and when Pinky is transformed into Millie he easily switches his attentions. So the only male in this story with an important role is portrayed as an absolute cheater and loser. The film suffers under the fact that it isn't made with a worked-out script. While the title is 3 women the film is only centered on Millie and Pinky and the character of Willie doesn't come forward very clear. There is hardly any interaction between her and the two other women and it seems she only communicates with them through her paintings (especially with Pinky). Then there is the role of the twins who also work at the institution. They are mentioned a lot in the film and you see a lot of shots of them. You expect that they should play an important role but this part of the plot is never worked out.What about the two main characters? It's hard to identify with them. Millie is an irritant female who seems to never shut her mouth and bothers people who are not interested in her. The reason for this is that she is so lonely that she intrudes in other peoples lifes and as a consequence is ignored by them. Pinky seems to be a very shy girl without real knowledge of society but she has a hidden agenda. The way she tries to imitate Millie shows thoroughness. When her parents are shown you understand she comes from a rural background and was most probably withdrawn from all experiences young women have in their teens. Her head injuries after her suicide attempt transform her in a sexual loaded woman who knows all the tricks to seduce men. But when there are stressful moments she immediately becomes the shy country girl as portrayed in the first half of the film.I think 3 women could have been a masterpiece if Altman hadn't got this image of what this movie would become already in his head before he starts shooting. For the director the sequences are much more important than a worked-out plot and in the end the film suffers underneath his vision. But he managed very well to create this dreamlike and creepy atmosphere which makes this movie more than just a psychological drama. As a viewer you feel the tension when Pinky intrudes the life of Millie and as this movie seems to become a story about a stalker the roles are exchanged and you start to feel sorry for Millie who has an enormous guilt about what happened to Pinky. Then there is the dream sequence and the child-bearing of Willie which is filmed so intense that I was shivering watching this scene. Still I'm left with the feeling that so much more could have been made with this plot.

Went into watching this movie without knowing a thing about it. Predicted more or less how it was going to end very early on. Did not find it funny, clever, or cute despite someone calling this a 'black comedy' there is nothing comedic about it, and I find it to be disgusting because it is a waste of time and has weird ugly looking women all throughout it whom I find to be very annoying to listen to talk and they have nothing good to say. This movie is rubbish. If you want to watch something equally as engrossing why not go to a home that has weird and whacky ugly men and women and listen to them talk- you might get just as much out of them if not more than you would from watching this piece of a crap film.