David Denby

“…. Robert Altman, with 3 Women, continued his experiments in form and elicited--from Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek--the most accomplished acting we've yet seen in his films…. Altman's spooky meditation on female identity and the death of male domination was a box-office flop but it should become a staple in revival houses. This American Gothic Persona reverberates with the skills of two young actresses every bit as good as Liv and Bibi: Shelley Duvall as the pathetically deluded Millie and Sissy Spacek as the initially adoring and eventually vicious Pinky. Unfortunately, Altman's failure with the third woman--Janice Rule's Willie--sends the film drifting off into vagueness.”

David Denby
Boston Phoenix, January 3, 1978
(year-end review)

1 comment:

Jean-François Brunet said...

Indeed, Altmann failed with the third woman. Too bad, the rest is a masterpiece.