Adapted by Stéphane Brizé (The
Chelma is Joanne, the daughter of wealthy landowners in rural France who until now has lived an idyllic countryside life with her parents, the Baron and Baroness Le Perthuis des Vauds. Not wishing to be separated from them, Joanne agrees to marry Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud), a handsome yet penniless nobleman who is set to move into her childhood home to oversee her father’s finances and farming lands. However, things don’t quite turn out how Joanne would have hoped and she soon finds herself locked in a loveless marriage with the manipulative, philandering Julien.
The brilliantly versatile Finnegan Oldfield (Heal The Living, Nocturama, Neither Heaven Nor Earth) is faultless in his depiction of Joanne’s wasteful son Paul who is hellbent on leading her into ruin just like his father before him.
While A Woman’s Life might seem to some as unnecessarily lengthy and even repetitive in its style, it is important to understand that the slowness and receptiveness are as much part of the story itself as are the more tragic aspects of the narrative. Like in his earlier films, Brizé understands his characters’ motivations more than most, and by allowing their stories to be told in this way, he is also able to make them more relatable to a modern audience. A truly fascinating film from a brilliantly sophisticated filmmaker who keeps on pushing the boundaries with every new production.
A Woman’s Life is out of Friday 12th of January