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2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Everything for a Woman remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, you probably only want to watch this if you have a thing for old black-and-white dramas that move at the speed of a snail. It’s not for the action crowd. If you like watching people try to communicate with their eyes while everyone else in the room is drinking tea, you might enjoy the quiet misery of it all.
It’s not exactly a blockbuster. It’s more like a play that someone decided to film when they were feeling particularly moody.
The whole thing hinges on this awkward debt of gratitude. Our British industrialist brings home the guy who saved his life, which feels noble but also kind of like a ticking time bomb. There is this one scene where they are just sitting around a table, and the lighting is so dim I thought my screen had died. It’s incredibly intimate in a way that feels almost intrusive.
Charlotte Susa plays the wife with this look that says she’s already packed her bags, even if she’s just pouring a drink. You can tell the movie is building toward something, but it takes its sweet time getting there.
I couldn't help but compare it to some of the other stuff from that era, like Marius, though this one lacks that same kind of coastal charm. It feels much more trapped, like the characters are just waiting for a storm that never quite breaks. It reminded me a bit of the suffocating feeling in The Fall of Eve, where the silence is louder than anything anyone actually says.
There is this moment where someone drops a glass, and the sound is so loud it nearly jumped me out of my seat. It felt like a mistake, like the crew didn't bother to edit it out, but it actually added to the weird, jittery atmosphere of the house. Also, the background extras in the party scene look like they were told to stand perfectly still for four hours. It’s distracting once you notice it.
Is it a masterpiece? No. But it has this weird, itchy feeling to it that stuck with me after the credits rolled. Sometimes, that is enough.
