A Woman's Life (12A.)
Directed by Stéphane Brizé
Starring Judith Chemla, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Yolande Moreau, Swann Arlaud, Nina Meurisse, Olivier Perrier, Clothilde Hesme, Alain Beigel. In French with subtitles. 116 mins.
It's a straightforward, humdrum title, not one that would appear to promise much; other than a woman's life. And that is what it gives, a woman's adult life, the joys and tribulations of Jeanne (Chelma) the daughter of a prosperous landowner, starting in Normandy in 1819 and continuing for thirty odd years.
It starts with a spot of gardening. Young Jeane, having completed her convent education, is being instructed on the basics of putting seeds in the ground. This beginning is an audacious slap of tedium, so dull and chastely observant it might make Eric Rohmer himself yawn. Sat in your chair you steady yourself for the rigours and hardships to come, for Une Vie (the original French's title) that will feel like a lifetime. But this adaptation of Maupassant's first novel turns out to be a poignant and beguiling wonder.
The film's strategy is to condense her life into a series of brief, but well-timed drop-ins. It may be an inconsequential moment or something decisive but put together they convey a narrative without the bother of actually going through it all in detail. When she is betrayed we don't see the discovery, but the reaction to it. The acting is exemplary, and though the weather is predominantly gloomy and overcast it looks exquisite. More than that, it looks alive, like something that was lived not imagined. It's that rare of a costume drama where the costumes look like clothes rather than costumes. It's a series of small moments that make up something momentous.
Directed by Stéphane Brizé
Starring Judith Chemla, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Yolande Moreau, Swann Arlaud, Nina Meurisse, Olivier Perrier, Clothilde Hesme, Alain Beigel. In French with subtitles. 116 mins.
It's a straightforward, humdrum title, not one that would appear to promise much; other than a woman's life. And that is what it gives, a woman's adult life, the joys and tribulations of Jeanne (Chelma) the daughter of a prosperous landowner, starting in Normandy in 1819 and continuing for thirty odd years.
It starts with a spot of gardening. Young Jeane, having completed her convent education, is being instructed on the basics of putting seeds in the ground. This beginning is an audacious slap of tedium, so dull and chastely observant it might make Eric Rohmer himself yawn. Sat in your chair you steady yourself for the rigours and hardships to come, for Une Vie (the original French's title) that will feel like a lifetime. But this adaptation of Maupassant's first novel turns out to be a poignant and beguiling wonder.
The film's strategy is to condense her life into a series of brief, but well-timed drop-ins. It may be an inconsequential moment or something decisive but put together they convey a narrative without the bother of actually going through it all in detail. When she is betrayed we don't see the discovery, but the reaction to it. The acting is exemplary, and though the weather is predominantly gloomy and overcast it looks exquisite. More than that, it looks alive, like something that was lived not imagined. It's that rare of a costume drama where the costumes look like clothes rather than costumes. It's a series of small moments that make up something momentous.
