8 women (8 Femmes) is a difficult movie to describe because it is so full of contradictions: it is a drama that is frequently funny (sometimes even intentionally) involving a cast of eight eight supposedly heterosexual women-- half of whom are not--who burst into song at random moments in the film while trying to solve a murder mystery.

Attempting even one of these contradictions has derailed more than one film, but oddly, this actually works for 8 Women by making it both unpredictable and memorable. Its uniqueness, along with an interesting story and a well-known cast (in France), explains why this odd little film--which has just been released on DVD--has won so much critical acclaim.

In French with subtitles, the story is about an extended family stuck in a house together during a bad snowstorm trying to figure out who killed the male head of the household, Marcel (Dominique Lamure). Think Gosford Park meets Clue, with an all-female cast and corny song-and-dance routines.

The eight women referenced in the title include the victim's icy and bitter wife Gaby (played by Catherine Deneuve), and the victim's sexy estranged sister Pierrette (Fanny Ardent). Then there is Gaby's annoying spinster sister, Augustine (Isabelle Huppert), the victim's two teenage daughters Catherine (Ludivine Sagnier) and Suzon (Virginie Ledoyen), Gaby's mother (Danielle Darrieux), the matronly black housekeeper Chanel (Firmine Richard), and the beautiful young maid Louise (Emmanuelle Béart).

As always in murder mysteries, everyone's got a secret they don't want revealed, all of which spill out over the course of the movie as the women attempt to determine who killed Marcel. The undercurrents of tension rooted in class issues, homophobia, sexism, and just plain greed are unspoken drivers in many of the characters' interactions as they alternately insult, comfort, and seduce one another.

Some of the transitions from moments of tense drama to cheesy song-and-dance routines seem rather abrupt and even strange, but perhaps this assessment is more a reflection of the fact that this type of film doesn't fit easily into existing American film genres (since this kind of musical dramedy is not standard fare here anymore, outside of art house theaters). The use of subtitles on top of this unusual combination of slightly-offbeat drama, comedy, and folksy music only exacerbates a feeling of distance between the film and the viewer, especially in the beginning.

But once you get used the pacing and transitions, that distance fades away and the film becomes very enjoyable, even if it never quite loses its surreal feel.

Issues of sexuality, and sexual tension between the women, are always at or just below the surface of the film: whether it's Gaby's oldest sister complaining about being seen as a spinster, the older maid trying to hide her love for Pierrette, Gaby's oldest daughter dealing with the consequences of a college love affair gone awry, Pierrette flirting with Gaby, or Gaby accusing Louise, the young maid, of sleeping with her husband, 8 Women deals with more sex than your standard American teen comedy--and all without a single nude scene.

Although there are plenty of indirect references to lesbianism, it is addressed directly only twice in the film: first, when the relationship between Chanel and Pierrette is discovered and Gaby reacts with homophobic statements like "You need treatment" and the accusation "I let you raise my girls!" But Chanel defends herself, saying "I've done nothing wrong," and sings about how hard it is to be alone. Richard renders Chanel simultaneously tough and tender, motherly (to the girls) and sexual, in a way that keeps you from viewing her as just a housekeeper (although it is frustrating that the only black woman in the film is a maid).

The second time lesbianism is directly addressed is towards the end of the film, when Pierrette is trying to seduce Gaby and tells her "love between women is anything but shocking. It's a form of pleasure you should try, to cleanse you of men."

The fluidity with which the women's sexuality is portrayed in the film is unusual, as is the casual way it is integrated into the story. Although Chanel is a lesbian, the other three women are more accurately described as bisexual--although they are not labeled as such in the film. Perhaps the fact that filmmakers did not feel the need to "define" the characters' sexuality is a result of it being a French film, not an American one (since few countries are quite as preoccupied with labels as we are).

Besides Pierrette and Gaby, the young maid Louise is also not straight: although she was having an affair with Gaby's husband Marcel, she tells Gaby "I became your employee not out of need, or for [Marcel]...but for you, Madame" as she gazes boldly into her eyes. Beart plays Louise with a mix of pride and smoldering sexuality that makes her a complex and compelling character, when she could easily have been just another stereotypical maid-who-sleeps with-the-boss.

Those who have followed Catherine Deneuve's career since her sapphic turn in The Hunger will most likely be surprised to see her singing and dancing in 8 Women, since she usually plays very serious roles. Deneuve is excellent here as usual, however, transitioning back and forth between being a hard, bitter wife and mother to a woman fighting attraction to her sister-in-law Pierrette, whom she publicly scorns.

Pierrette is a free-spirited "exotic dancer" who easily attracts the attention of men and women--such as the housekeeper Chanel (Firmine Richard), who has confused her sexual relationship with Pierrette for love. Fanny Ardent is very convincing as Pierrette, and she makes Pierrette appealing by exuding a warmth and vitality that contrasts sharply with the more somber countenance of the other women.

Overall, 8 Women is a fun, memorable film with many layers that provides a campy but still realistic portrait of a group of women whose sexuality and ethics are not easily defined. So fascinating do these characters and their love/hate relationships with one another become that, by the end of the film, the odd little dances don't even seem that odd anymore.