3 Women (1977)

3 WOMEN  (1977)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Robert Altman
    Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule,
    Robert Fortier, Ruth Nelson, John Cromwell
This story takes place in the desert in Southern California. Shelley Duvall plays Millie, a delusional young woman working as an aide in a senior care facility, driving around in a mustard-colored Ford Pinto, and talking incessantly to neighbors and coworkers who either pointedly ignore her or laugh behind her back. Sissy Spacek plays Pinkie, a desperately needy new girl who latches onto Millie and becomes her roommate. Janice Rule plays Willie, a mute, pregnant artist who spends most of her time painting exotic murals on concrete patios and swimming pools. Those are the three women. The movie's by Robert Altman, who claims he based it on a dream, and it kind of feels like one, a trancelike meditation on transference revolving around characters who are detached from reality to begin with. It's a strange movie, for sure, the kind of thing that could only come from Hollywood in the 1970s, and maybe only from Altman. Effectively off-kilter musical score by Gerald Busby. Haunting performances by all three women.