I was drawn to this film because of director Laetitia Masson. I've only seen one of her films, the impressive and dream-like _For Sale_ with Sandrine Kiberlain (one of my favorite actresses). Masson has not made a feature film in years; I hope the acclaimed miniseries "Aurore" marks her comeback. It goes for a hallucinatory tone rather than realism; in the stunning opening a girl dances on the edge of a lake dyed bright red by industrial waste. Red is her dress too when she kills a boy for his biscuits. The first episode, about the immediate aftermath of that killing, is elliptically structured, touching on the grief of the community and the doubts of the investigators. It is extraordinarily moving and magnanimous. The next episode finds the grown up Aurore (Bouchez), now out of prison with a new name, running from her past. She ends up with her English tutor from prison, now as disillusioned and alone as she is. The equally damaged sister of the dead boy pursues her and her daughter. The writing is superb; details about their past are revealed unobtrusively, a morsel at a time, and only after you have been conditioned to the lethal inevitability. The final episode wraps things up operatically but a bit too neatly; I wish it had sent the characters on an open road, like the end of _For Sale_, instead of returning to the scene of the crime. But it has Aurore Clement's memorable turn as Bouchez's aging prostitute-mother still wearing the same red kimono and self-pity.
Brit Marling wrote a recent NYT article about the need to create a different type of heroine. French woman directors have been leading the way with these inspired stories about unusual, pricky women. Besides, how can you resist a miniseries with a heroine who reads James Salter?
Brit Marling wrote a recent NYT article about the need to create a different type of heroine. French woman directors have been leading the way with these inspired stories about unusual, pricky women. Besides, how can you resist a miniseries with a heroine who reads James Salter?
