3 Women (1977)

Fever dream masterpiece.

Directed by: Robert Altman

Cinematography by: Charles Rosher Jr.

Country: United States

Genre: Drama/Mystery

One of the most underrated filmmakers of the American New Wave, Robert Altman was arguably the most consistently unconventional New Hollywood director during the very radical and experimental 1970s.

Altman had an uncanny ability to capture the surrealities of daily life and mix them with the ostensible realness of dreams. He shot his films voyeuristically - favoring long lenses and wide framing - and recorded multiple tracks of dialogue at a time; his actors often performed scenes with no knowledge of when or if the camera would be on them.

This fever dream of a film is one of my all-time favorites. Watching it feels both invasive and threatening, like you accidentally wandered into (and subsequently became trapped in) someone else’s unconscious mind, setting off some horrible, inescapable butterfly effect.

From Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall’s committed performances, to the unsettling music score, to the bizarre paintings, to the spectral montage in the film’s final act - climaxing in one of the low-key most nightmarish scenes I’ve ever watched - it’s an utterly unforgettable experience.

Distributed by: The Criterion Collection / 20th Century Fox