Story of Women

Posted 17 March 2007 in screencaps Screening log

Rating

[Une affaire des femmes]


1988 - France

Director
Claude Chabrol

Starring
Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet, Marie Trintignant

A real breath of fresh air this was, and now that I’m thinking about it, it serves as a fine counterpoint to the crap that pissed me off about Gabrielle. Here too we have a woman in an oppressive time (Vichy France) who assumes some level of power (performing illegal abortions, running a small-time whorehouse, and earning plenty of money from both). Her actions and their consequences are portrayed so even-handedly, without objective moral judgment or histrionic agonizing from the characters. Huppert’s performance here is light and human; she is affected by the women who enter her life, but she also makes calculating and selfish decisions, and all of this is done very subtly. Heavy material handled with freshness and fairness: thank you, Claude Chabrol. This is how it’s done.

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Lauren, 26, librarian, and like you, obsessed with film. This is a half-finished and labyrinthine personal database of a film journey and the fetishes I've acquired thereby, but I hope you will have some fun with it, too. My tendency is to immerse myself in long and obsessive projects to the exclusion of all else, but you'll typically find a lot of classic Hollywood, 60s/70s world cinema, and contemporary awards bait on these pages.

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