3 Women
In a sun-blasted California spa community, three isolated women form an uncanny family by mirroring and exchanging one another’s identities.
Overview
Three women navigate their identities in a surreal desert landscape, forging unexpected bonds.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Labyrinthine
- Violence
- Mild
- eerie
- surreal
- witty
- late night cinephile viewing
- art house film night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an acclaimed, strange, mesmerizing portrait of late-1970s womanhood, with Shelley Duvall’s performance singled out for exceptional praise.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Pinky becomes intensely attached to Millie, while the women’s emotional crises produce an uncanny exchange of personalities and roles.
The spa, desert bar, emotional crises, and personality exchanges unfold with initially realistic detail but increasingly phantasmagoric causality.
The California desert spa environment surrounds the women with heat, distance, and an unnervingly exposed social world.
The three women ultimately settle into a new family unit assembled from displaced identities, care, and dependency.
Films like 3 Women, and why
Persona
psychological identity slippage, female subjectivity, and unsettling two-hander intimacy
Mulholland Drive
surreal psychological drama built around unstable identity and dreamlike symbolism
Images
strange, emotionally charged portrait of women shaped by repression and ambiguous reality
The Piano Teacher
avant-garde character study using domestic relationships and psychological disorientation
Movie Details
- Director
- Robert Altman
- Release Date
- 1977-04-29
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (358)
Cast
- Shelley Duvall
- Sissy Spacek
- Janice Rule
- Robert Fortier
- Ruth Nelson
- John Cromwell
- Sierra Pecheur
- Craig Richard Nelson
- Maysie Hoy
- Belita Moreno
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is 3 Women about?
- In a sun-blasted California spa community, three isolated women form an uncanny family by mirroring and exchanging one another’s identities.
- What is 3 Women like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of 3 Women as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as labyrinthine.
- Is 3 Women violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in 3 Women as mild.
- What did critics think of 3 Women?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an acclaimed, strange, mesmerizing portrait of late-1970s womanhood, with Shelley Duvall’s performance singled out for exceptional praise.
- Which films are like 3 Women?
- Films with a similar feel include Persona, Mulholland Drive, Images, and The Piano Teacher.
- How long is 3 Women?
- 3 Women runs 124 minutes.
- Where can I watch 3 Women?
- In United States, 3 Women is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
