Miriam Toew’s “Women Talking” — and every article written about her novel — begins in Bolivia. “Women Talking” opens with an author’s note detailing true events that occurred between 2005 and 2009 in ...

At first glance, it might seem an unpromisingly static set-up, in danger of speechifying, but Polley’s direction manages to avoid these pitfalls. In 2010, a group of women from two Mennonite families ...