“8 Women” had the possibility of becoming a favorite film for me. It’s a French film (my wife is a French teacher), it’s a murder mystery (I love mysteries) and it’s set at Christmas (how it made the list).  All that potential, and none of it came to be.

This film tells the story of a murdered husband/dad/brother.  8 women associated with him — wife, daughters, maid, sister, mother and two others—get snowed in at Christmastide. One of them kills him. They all had a motive.  The film explores why.

As we go along, layers are peeled off exposing a more and more bizarre plot. Daughter #1 returns home from university pregnant. The dead guy is having an affair with the maid (and a few others, we find out). And all of the women break out into a campy song at some point in the movie (every 10-15 minutes).  There really wasn’t any rhyme or reason to this and it truly bewildered me.

As the movie went along, it became clearer that it wasn’t a Christmas film at all, but a film that takes place around the Christmas holiday. And a bad film at that. Once it jumped the shark for me (in a scene not worth recounting for you), I turned it off.

So this one gets a 31 Christmas Film first: a DNF.  (Did Not Finish, for those who don’t know that language from track events). Really, don’t bother at all. This was way worse than “Prancer,” which in comparison seems like the best Christmas movie ever.

I hope this is the only film like this in my watching. And let’s hope tomorrow’s film “Elf” can make all this horrible film watching float away.

In the queue: “Elf.”