Question..

It's not really terribly similar to 3 Women (the main character is female, it has a small cast of about 5-6 speaking parts, "identity" could be seen as one of its themes, so there are those things...) but I think if you liked that one you'll probably like Images. It's another one of his "smaller" movies, though I think it's more accurate to compare it to something like Repulsion than 3 Women. Great central performance by Susannah York, very unusual and interesting soundtrack (by John Williams of all people), wonderful editing and typically excellent visual compositions. Altman says in the commentary that an association of mental health professionals asked him to speak at a symposium on schizophrenia because they viewed his depiction of that particular mental illness in this film as the best they'd ever seen. One of his best and most underseen, I think.

It is like 3 Women in the sense that the two films are probably his most unusual and experimental IMHO. If you like 3 Women you will probably like Images for these reasons.

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Well, it's more similar to 3 Women than anything else Altman has done. Both were obviously influenced by Persona. The fluid moprhing of personalities that happens to York is similar to what happens in 3 Women.

I would say no. It is only like 3 Women in that there is a lead female character and that they both contain very nice scenery, albeit very different kinds of scenery (Southern California in 3 Women versus Ireland in Images). Other than that, Images is intense in many sequences whereas 3 Women mostly emphasizes a lot of calmer and subtle nuances in its female characters. In other words, the tones of both films are quite different, IMO, particularly acknowledging that 3 Women contains multiple comedic moments provoking unexpected laughter. 3 Women also includes a more improvised feel to its more frequent dialogue. 3 Women is my favourite Robert Altman film, which I'd give a 10/10; Images was alright, but still enjoyable, which I'd give a 7/10 compared to his other films I've seen. I highly recommend listening to the Altman commentary if you happen to watch Images on DVD, as there are some great interpretations about select scenes that help bring a bit of clarity to the film. You'll probably still enjoy it if you really enjoy Altman but both films are quite different.

I love both films, but where 3 WOMEN is dreamlike, IMAGES is hallucinatory. Both awesome.