"Une vie" or "A Woman's Life" is a new French-language movie co-produced by France and Belgium and this one has already managed a solid deal of awards recognition. Much more will not be added I guess as this one is originally from 2016 and it took until June 2018 almost until it got from France to Germany with its wide release. The director and co-writer here is Stéphane Brizé, one of France's more successful filmmakers these days. It runs for pretty much exactly 2 hours and for that it is fairly impressive how it really almost never drags. Lead actress Judith Chemla is the heart and soul of the film from start to finish and she has many outstanding scenes, one very early already when we see her suffer during the sex scene very early in the film when she loses her virginity to her new husband, the pain during this scene is a good indicator how it is somewhat doomed to fail overall. And that's how it goes too. Costumes and sets, maybe make-up too are an indicator of this being a period piece and it certainly is to some extent, but it is much more a biopic about the central character really, a woman named Jeanne and we follow her from her early years as a child and young woman herself to when she becomes a mother herself, very briefly scenes are included with the young boy and finally we see her years as an older, but not old, woman who has lost almost everybody in her life who meant something to her. So it certainly is a depressing film to some extent as there is a great deal of suffering involved and basically that's what defines the protagonist here, so it was a bit surprising to see the movie go out on a bit of a high note as these positive moments really are a rarity and I expected her friend and helper to arrive alone, but they took a different route. By the way the money parts about the son are almost a running gag in the second half regardless how tragic they may seem. The strong performance by the main character and the way that her character was written that the bad luck she has all the time is really just coinsidencal and not self-inflicted. You really cannot blame her for anything bad that happens to her and this includes perhaps especially the gruesome shooting scene where she makes the right decision when talking to the priest and the priest does not only make the decision that result in this tragedy, but even worse maybe does not care about the seal of the confessional, maybe because it was a woman confessing? Anyway, the film gets better and better the longer it goes and it is not a disappointment by any means early on. It's a success from start to finish, sometimes more, otherwise less. I definitely recommend seeing this one in the French original as the actors were all good yes, but their vocal performances are also top-notch. I may be biased as a fan of the French language, but let me say here that you should not go for a dubbed version. Maybe it is a film that overall will be more pleasant to watch for female audiences because perhaps they find it easier to identify with the main character in her most crucial moments, but I as a male enjoyed the watch as well as much as the two or three other men in my showing. See it. 2 hours you will not regret spending inside the theater, but it will also be a good watch at home I guess, the difference between cinema and TV screen is not as big here as it is during many other films. In any case, i give it a thumbs-up obviously.
Review of A Woman's Life
