Cast : Judith Chemla, Swann Arlaud, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Finnegan Oldfield
2016 / drama / original title : UNE VIE / 119’ / Color / status : completed / long feature-film / All Rights / International collections
Normandy, 1819. Jeanne is a young woman full of childish dreams and innocence when she returns home after finishing her schooling in a convent. She marries a local Viscount, Julien de Lamare, who soon reveals himself to be a miserly and unfaithful man. Little by little Jeanne’s illusions are stripped away.
FIPRESCI Prize – Biennale di Venezia 2016
Press
“Haunting and profound. There could never be too many movies like this one.”
The New York Times
“Critic’s Pick! Brizé’s greatest skill is his ability to imply the deep and complicated emotions beneath the placid, decorous surface.”
The New York Times
“Miraculous, revelatory. Notwithstanding its frocks and bonnets, it feels as much a present-tense story as any film set in our own time.”
Film Comment
“An exquisitely moving retelling.”
Village Voice
“Tremendously rewarding. The rare period piece that feels observed rather than pretended.”
Indiewire
“A moving, beautifully modulated adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s novel”
Variety
“A mosaic-like overview of a life […]. Beautifully composed”
The Hollywood Reporter
“Judith Chemla is a perfect choice”
Screen
“A magnificent and combative portrait of a woman… Of great modernity”
ELLE
