Rodrigo Garcia's Nine Lives Is a Drama in the Most Extreme Sense

Rodrigo Garcia's Nine Lives is a drama in the most extreme sense. There are no moments of lightness to permeate the darkness of this patchwork quilt of feminine misery and despair. Having said that, this is a film that employs clever storytelling techniques and a truly excellent cast to create a moving set of portraits.

The film is divided into nine segments of roughly 10-15 minutes, each focusing in on a particular woman's plight. These portraits are linked together in a rather loose manner. Sometimes characters from one segment appear in a later portrait, and the women are all loosely connected in that each is plagued by regret and disappointment.

More directly, Garcia uses language to connect them, though. For example, in the portrait subtitled Holly, two grown sisters reenact a childhood song with the line "all we are is dreams and bones." This same provocative line is uttered later by Camille in her portrait, as she lay in a hospital bed waiting for her medication to kick in so she can have her cancer-riddled breast removed.

This type of storytelling, with several separate, yet connected story lines occurring within the same film has become popular in the last few years. Some that come to mind include Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (2000), Stephen Daldry's The Hours (2002), and Krzysztof Kieslowski's Red (1994, from the Three Colors Trilogy).

But the nine stories in this feature are not intertwined in any literal way. They are short little snapshots that share a common mood, if not a common theme or plot. The connections between them are slender and almost go unnoticed.

What is noticed is the deep despair that coats the entire film. The women, Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo), Diana (Robin Wright Penn), Holly (Lisa Gay Hamilton), Sonia (Holly Hunter), Samantha (Amanda Seyfried), Lorna (Amy Brenneman), Ruth (Sissy Spacek), Camille (Kathy Baker), and Maggie (Glenn Close), have made decisions that they regret.

But they've also found themselves in situations thrust upon them, from which they cannot escape. It isn't a film about helpless victims. And although it is entirely about women, it is not some sort of feminist diatribe. It is a film about the human condition.

The characters deal with relationships (with men, with their children, with their own mothers and fathers); death and sickness; abortion; and unrequited love. From every day troubles to lifelong struggles, there is a lot for us to connect to. Almost all of the nine portraits seem to carry their own significance as a part of an embroidered whole.

While Penn's performance is visceral and truly magnificent, and the entire cast embodies their roles, watching "Nine Lives" is not really an enjoyable process. It is painful and thought-provoking. It provides a much-needed antidote to the spoon-fed plots of mainstream films, especially during this time of year.

And still, after witnessing the pain, agony, and truth of these women's lives, I wonder if raw truth and innovative storytelling always have to lead to such deep despair. "Nine Lives" is a good film, but it is a heartbreaker, so be prepared to cry and to think.