Lives of Women

Following a long absence spent in New York, Elaine Nichols returns to her childhood home to live with her invalid father and his geriatric Alsatian dog. The house backing on to theirs is sold and as she watches the old furniture being removed, she is taken back to a summer in the 1970's when she was almost sixteen and this small out-of-town estate was an enclave for women and children while the men are mysterious shadows who leave every day for the outside world.

The women are isolated but keep their loneliness and frustrations hidden behind a veneer of suburban respectability. When an American divorcee and her daughter move into the estate this veneer begins to crack. The women learn how to socialise, how to drink martinis, how to care less about their wifely and maternal duties.

While the women are distracted, Elaine and her friends find their own entry into the adult world. The result is a tragic event that will mark the rest of Elaine's life and be the cause of her long and guilt-ridden exile.

Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs and the cruelties brought about by the demands of respectability.

Dupa o lunga absenta petrecuta in New York, Elaine Nichols se intoarce in casa copilariei pentru a locui impreuna cu tatal ei invalid si cainele sau geriatric alsacian. Casa care se indreapta spre a lor este vanduta si, in timp ce urmareste scoaterea mobilierului vechi, este dusa inapoi la o vara din anii 1970, cand avea aproape saisprezece ani, iar aceasta mica mosie din afara orasului era o enclava pentru femei si copii in timp ce barbatii sunt umbre misterioase care pleaca in fiecare zi in lumea exterioara. Femeile sunt izolate, dar isi pastreaza singuratatea si frustrarile ascunse in spatele unui strat de respectabilitate suburbana.