This French film stars a bilingually fluent Jodie Foster as a psychoanalyst, Lilian Steiner, who is having a difficult time: first one patient reveals that having paid for eight years of sessions designed to stop him smoking he has finally had hypnotherapy that has worked and he intends to sue her for eight years of sessions (32,000 euros) and eight years of cigarettes (8,000 euros). Then she discovers that a patient has committed suicide; she overdosed on pills Steiner prescribed.
Or did she? Steiner develops the theory that the prescription was tampered with and that her patient was murdered by her daughter or her husband.
Or did she? Steiner develops the theory that the prescription was tampered with and that her patient was murdered by her daughter or her husband.
Tears start leaking from her eyes. Her ex-husband, an oculist, finds her physically healthy. So she visits a hypnotherapist.
Cue a Hitchcockian thriller where no-one can be sure of who is telling the truth. There are wonderful moments of tension such as when Steiner’s apartment is burgled, when her car is covered with a blood-soaked cloth, and when she and her ex-husband are sitting in her stationary car, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, in the rain, having just burgled a suspect’s house seeking clues, and you expect, no you know, you just know, that at any moment the suspect’s face will appear through the car windows.
In addition to this there are bizarre moments. Steiner visits the hypnotherapist and regresses into a dream world set during the Nazi occupation of France in which she is a cellist in an orchestra with her now-dead patient, whom she has made pregnant, beside her when the conductor - the dead patient's husband - draws a gun and the orchestra is raided by Nazi militiamen led by her own son. This leads her to believe that she has lived a past life.
And, it being a French film, there has to be the obligatory sex between a middle-aged man and woman, on a verandah, at night, following which the male partner appears at his own front door fully naked except for a towel clutched to his genitals.
And, it being a French film, there has to be scenes of eating and drinking wine.
In fact what makes this typically French, and what makes this a fully-rounded narrative, is its deep grounding in scenes of everyday life, such as when she complains to her upstairs neighbours about the noise, and when she orders 500 almost obsolete minidiscs online because she uses them to record her doctor-patient sessions.
I thought it was brilliant and it has been nominated for six awards. Despite this, IMDb has rated it a miserly 5.9/10. On Rotten Tomatoes the popcornmeter (audience reviews) was similar (64%) while the tomatometer (critics’ reviews) scored 82%. The Guardian, which criticised the plot as ‘preposterous’ and ‘slightly silly’ (I prefer ‘surreal’; I think the loose ends are intended) rates it as 3 stars out of 5. Mark Kermode also describes the plot as ‘preposterous’ but says it works because Jodie Foster is so good, because the chemistry between her and the actor playing her ex, Daniel Auteuil, is amazing, and because the direction is so slick.
It was certainly a thumbs up from me.
In addition to this there are bizarre moments. Steiner visits the hypnotherapist and regresses into a dream world set during the Nazi occupation of France in which she is a cellist in an orchestra with her now-dead patient, whom she has made pregnant, beside her when the conductor - the dead patient's husband - draws a gun and the orchestra is raided by Nazi militiamen led by her own son. This leads her to believe that she has lived a past life.
And, it being a French film, there has to be the obligatory sex between a middle-aged man and woman, on a verandah, at night, following which the male partner appears at his own front door fully naked except for a towel clutched to his genitals.
And, it being a French film, there has to be scenes of eating and drinking wine.
In fact what makes this typically French, and what makes this a fully-rounded narrative, is its deep grounding in scenes of everyday life, such as when she complains to her upstairs neighbours about the noise, and when she orders 500 almost obsolete minidiscs online because she uses them to record her doctor-patient sessions.
I thought it was brilliant and it has been nominated for six awards. Despite this, IMDb has rated it a miserly 5.9/10. On Rotten Tomatoes the popcornmeter (audience reviews) was similar (64%) while the tomatometer (critics’ reviews) scored 82%. The Guardian, which criticised the plot as ‘preposterous’ and ‘slightly silly’ (I prefer ‘surreal’; I think the loose ends are intended) rates it as 3 stars out of 5. Mark Kermode also describes the plot as ‘preposterous’ but says it works because Jodie Foster is so good, because the chemistry between her and the actor playing her ex, Daniel Auteuil, is amazing, and because the direction is so slick.
It was certainly a thumbs up from me.
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