Summary
The dialog and the plotline feel dated, and it’s painfully obvious these are female characters written by a man.
7 Women and a Murder is a female-driven Whodunit-type comedy film from Italian filmmaker Alessandro Genovesi that has landed on Netflix. The film is the Italian remake of a French cult classic from 2002, 8 Women, which was itself based on a popular stage play by Robert Thomas. Featuring an ensemble cast of known Italian actresses, including Margherita Buy, Diana Del Bufalo, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Luisa Ranieri, the film is a mystery in a mansion type, where a group of characters are stuck together in a giant home after discovering the dead body of their beloved patriarch, Marcello.
7 Women and a Murder review and plot summary
The film starts with the arrival of Diana Del Bufalo’s character, Susanna, who had just returned home on Christmas eve to celebrate with her family. Despite receiving a rather icy welcome from her father’s new housekeeper, Maria (Ranieri), Susanna appears excited to be back home. Then we get to meet the rest of the characters: Marcello’s wife, Margherita, her spinster sister, Agostina (Sabrina Impacciatore), and their mother, the elderly Rachelle (Ornella Vanoni). Susanna is the eldest daughter and has moved away from the family home, while her younger more rebellious sister, Caterina (Benedetta Porcaroli) still lives at home.
We don’t get much time to get to know these women before the poor housekeeper walks into Marcello’s room only to find him face down with a knife sticking from his back. To make matters more complicated, Marcello’s previous girlfriend, Veronica (Micaela Ramazzotti) arrives at the mansion after having received a strange phone call informing her of the man’s death. Now that all seven women are under one roof, they discover they’ve been locked in on the grounds, the phone lines had been cut and there’s a very real possibility that one of them killed poor Marcello. Like it’s customary in murder mystery movies, each of the women has a deeply hidden secret and each of them has a separate motive for wanting Marcello gone.
While the acting is as convincing as it could be, 7 Women and a Murder is theatrical yet flat. While the protagonists in 8 Women were hiding pretty scandalous things (especially for the era in which the film was set in), the things the characters reveal here are a bit too tame and less than surprising. While I’m aware this is a period piece set in the 50s, the dialog and the plotline feel dated and it’s painfully obvious these are female characters written by a man. As a remake, the flick doesn’t amount to much. Instead, it took out all the elements that made the 2002 film great and left us with a copy as attractive as the spinster Agostina.
Is 7 Women and a Murder good?
If you’re looking for an amusing comedy to keep you entertained for just under 90 minutes, this film makes for a fun, quick watch. Despite the relatively serious subject matter, 7 Women and a Murder is a lighthearted addition to the murder mystery genre, but sadly, it’s substantially less spicy than the French movie it took inspiration from.
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