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A Woman's Life (film)

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A Woman's Life
Film poster
Directed byStéphane Brizé
Written byStéphane Brizé
Florence Vignon
Based onUne vie
by Guy de Maupassant
Produced byMiléna Poylo
Gilles Sacuto
StarringJudith Chemla
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Yolande Moreau
CinematographyAntoine Héberlé
Edited byAnne Klotz
Production
companies
Distributed byDiaphana
Release dates
  • 6 September 2016 (2016-09-06) (Venice)
  • 23 November 2016 (2016-11-23) (France)
Running time
119 minutes
CountriesFrance
Belgium
LanguageFrench
Budget$8.2 million
Box office$880.000[1]

A Woman's Life (French: Une vie) is a 2016 French-Belgian drama film directed by Stéphane Brizé. It is based on the Guy de Maupassant's novel Une vie about a sensitive woman forced to face the harshness of the world.

It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film in competition.[2][3] It was awarded the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film in 2016.[4]

The film is described as "the delicate story of a life of candid emotions and searing disappointments", which presents the novel "in a series of bright flashbacks and gloomy flashforwards". Using a hand-held camera, Brizé frames "the heroine, played by a magnificent Judith Chemla... in 4:3 format (also known as 1.33:1), imprisoning her in a tormented existence".[5]

Cast

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Synopsis

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Normandy, 1819. Baron Simone-Jacques Le Perthuis and his wife Adelaide have one child, Jeanne, whose friend is their servant Rosalie, the same age as her. After meeting the Vicomte Julien de Lamare she falls in love with him and soon weds. But Jeanne discovers that he has been unfaithful, with Rosalie, who, pregnant by him, is dismissed. Although Jeanne forgives Julien he continues to philander, this time with a neighbour Gilberte de Fourville. Jeanne tries with the local priest to find a way out of her misery. When Julien is shot by Gilberte's husband Jeanne's son Paul, in poor health is educated at home before being sent away aged 12 to boarding school. Paul later falls in love with a prostitute, runs up huge debts, and still feckless runs off to London, regularly writing to ask his mother for money but not visiting her. At 42, Jeanne is alone except for Rosalie, who has come back to help her childhood friend. The last line of the film (and the book) is "Life, you see, is never as good or as bad as one thinks”.

Production

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The film was shot in Normandy. It started 24 August 2015.[6][7]

In his first film work, the harpsichordist Olivier Baumont provides the soundtrack, playing his own score on the pianoforte, while also including themes from works by Jacques Duphly.

Accolades

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Award / Film Festival Category Recipients Result
César Awards Best Actress Judith Chemla Nominated
Best Costume Design Madeline Fontaine Nominated
Louis Delluc Prize Best Film Won
Magritte Awards Best Supporting Actress Yolande Moreau Nominated
Lumières Awards Best Film Nominated
Best Director Stéphane Brizé Nominated
Best Actress Judith Chemla Nominated
Best Cinematography Antoine Héberlé Nominated
Venice International Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize Won
Golden Lion Nominated

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "A Woman's Life". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Venice Film Festival 2016". Deadline. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  3. ^ "A Woman's Life wins Venice's FIPRESCI Award". Cineuropa.
  4. ^ "Cinéma : le prix Louis Delluc décerné à "Une vie" de Stéphane Brizé". France 24.
  5. ^ A Woman's Life, so good yet so bad by Camillo De Marco, Cineuropa website, 2016 accessed 20 December 2023
  6. ^ "Démarrage du tournage de "Une Vie" de Stéphane Brizé". Destination ciné. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Casting. Envie de tourner avec Yolande Moreau et JP Daroussin ?". Ouest-France.fr. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
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