Radical dialogue and open roads in ‘Women Talking’

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — In Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking,” there is the dialogue on screen and another off it. The film, starring an ensemble including Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley and Frances McDormand, dramatizes a group of Mennonite women meeting to discuss how to respond to years of sexual assault by men in their colony. For the women of “Women Talking,” the film, too, was a chance to rethink the rules and traditions of the historically male-controlled film industry. Polley wanted to foster a more humane working environment on set, with child care, reasonable hours and open dialogue. It opens in theaters Friday.