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Outside
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Learning
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Arcadia
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Title: L'avenir
Year: 2016
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
Format: Blu-ray
Label: Curzon Artificial Eye
Notes: This contemporary drama is something a bit different to the usual classics and genre cinema covered in this blog. I'm keen to make sure I don't miss too much of modern cinema in my apparent quest to appreciate all of cinema's rich history. Besides, THINGS TO COME stars Isabelle Huppert and I've felt the peer pressure to see something she's in!
The film tells the story of philosophy academic Nathalie as her satisfied and rewarding life declines in the time-honoured way of middle-aged women blessed with an egotistical husband, elderly mother and younger colleagues. Her story is sad and she is treated poorly but she never completely snaps. There seems to be an ennui of the privileged that precludes any chance of a meltdown.
That said, I was impressed by what's not said or shown by Huppert and the film. There is some restraint on show. Nathalie becomes dissatisfied with life and looks for new meaning but eventually chooses to accept the familiarity of her dependable family. I'm not sure what I make of the ending - perhaps it's disappointing, perhaps it's necessary.
An enjoyable motif throughout the film is heavily laden bookshelves and it's great to see this results in a meaningful payoff when we see one library half emptied. As privileged as these lives may be, there's genuine pathos in a scene like that.
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