In Women Talking, the characters’ speech patterns reflect the deeply secluded Mennonite community in which they live. Because they’re so sheltered from the outside world, their speech isn’t influenced by slang or trends. It feels old fashioned.

In a script that’s primarily scenes of women sitting in a barn talking (and where they all have similar speech and word choices), how do you really differentiate which character is speaking?

The story is about the women debating staying or leaving their community after suffering horrific abuse — and it’s their stance in the debate that gives each character a unique voice. For example, Ona is in favor of leaving, thus her speech is more light/flighty and idealistic. Mariche is in favor of staying and doing nothing (but maybe she’s just afraid of leaving) so her speech is way more tightly-wound and acerbic.