Review: Certain Women

Certain Women (12A)

USA 2016  107 mins  Dir: Kelly Reichardt  Cast: Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Jared Harris, Lily Gladstone, James Le Gros, Rene Auberjonois

Acquired-taste indie filmmaker and ‘mumblecore’ pioneer Kelly Reichardt assembles her starriest cast to date for another of her trademark slow, leisurely dramas. It’s not hard to see why Reichardt has become the go-to indie writer/director for actresses who are used to appearing in much more expensive productions, as she certainly succeeds in creating strong female characters while, rather refreshingly, sidelining the men. Certain Women sees her team up with Michelle Williams for the third time after 2008’s Wendy and Lucy and the 2010 minimalist feminist western, Meek’s Cutoff. The recently Oscar nominated co-star of Manchester by the Sea is joined by Laura Dern and former tabloid fave Kristen Stewart, who has successfully shed the Twilight stigma after a string of impressive performances in the likes of Clouds of Sils Maria and Still Alice, with Personal Shopper due later this month. Interestingly, it’s newcomer Lily Gladstone who steals the show, though you’ll have to be patient as it takes around an hour for her to show up.

Adapted from short stories by Maile Meloy, Certain Women comprises a triptych of Montana-set tales. But for a coda revisiting all three, these are presented sequentially, with none of that fancy-pants narrative intertwining favoured by Paul Haggis or Robert Altman. Indeed, only two of the stories overlap, albeit tangentially. Typically, the potential conflict that this throws up is never addressed or resolved. The first yarn has Laura Dern as a weary smalltown lawyer with a persistent and vexatious client in the form of dishevelled, illiterate labourer Jared Harris, who is seeking compensation for an industrial injury. A legal technicality means that he will never succeed, but he refuses to accept her counsel – primarily, she surmises, because she is a woman. As his anger mounts, this segment veers into territory that is generally the preserve of thrillers. Steady, though – Reichardt ain’t that kind of filmmaker.

The second story has Michelle Williams as a prickly middle class wife and mother, with a laidback beardy hubby and sulky teenage daughter, who has decided to build a weekend cottage in the country – using only repurposed local materials, naturally. To this end, she’s leading negotiations with a somewhat befuddled old timer (Rene Auberjonois) to purchase a bloody great pile of sandstone. Finally, Kristen Stewart is a rather exhausted law graduate who travels a great distance to lecture a small class of schoolteachers at an anonymous adult education centre. When bored local rancher Gladstone wanders in, she quickly becomes entranced by sexy Bell…erm, Kristen.

Connoisseurs of the cinema of nothing much happening should feel right at home with these meandering vignettes. All three central female characters are somewhat put-upon in their own way, and two of them are lawyers. Beyond that, Certain Women doesn’t seem to have much of a theme or message, beyond reflecting the untidiness of real life. Newcomers to Reichardt’s work who are frustrated by the film’s apparent aimlessness may find compensation in the terrific performances. Dern has been doing wounded decency and anguish brilliantly for more than 30 years now (who could forget the look on her face when Kyle MacLachlan turns up with the naked Isabella Rossellini in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet?). As she demonstrated so ably in Manchester by the Sea, in which she made the most of a very small amount of screen time, Michelle Williams is hugely accomplished at conveying the greatest emotion in the tiniest gesture or expression. Kristen Stewart tries perhaps a little too hard to turn down the mega-wattage of her star power here, but Lily Gladstone is a revelation as the lonely young horse-wrangler who shoots her looks of undisguised longing.

Reichardt always offers an additional bonus to those who enjoy dogs on film. This time we get a mischievous Corgi cross, who proves to be the only actor capable of upstaging Ms. Gladstone. Certain Women is also dedicated to Lucy, whom you would correctly assume to be the director’s long-term companion. Indeed, she’s the adorable mixed-breed pooch who co-starred in Wendy and Lucy.