La Separation [1994]

Customer Reviews:

Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil at their best.......2007-08-09

This is one of the finest acted movies I've ever seen...but, in my opinion, it has a somewhat uninvolving story. La Separation features two great actors, Isabelle Huppert as Anne and Daniel Auteuil as Pierre, in a one hour and 25 minute story of a marriage that dissolves for no one reason but many small reasons. In one scene they are lying, fully clothed, in bed after Anne has returned from seeing her lover, although it is unclear if Anne and the man made or have ever made love.

"What did I do wrong?" asks Pierre.
"Nothing," Anne says.
"You won't say?"
"It's nothing specific. Just a lot of little things."
"Tell me."
"I don't know," Anne says. "Maybe we didn't talk enough. By not talking we put up with things we shouldn't have."
"You could have told me."
"I did."
"Not like this."
"I did in a different way. You just wouldn't listen...it's just...I met someone who listens to me... who's interested in me...who pays attention to me. That's all."

The story is told more from Pierre's point of view. He discusses things with two friends. He makes videotapes of his 11-month-old son and records his sad realization that these tapes will probably be the closest he'll be to his son after the divorce. At first he's calm and puzzled, but then begins to seethe with frustration and hopelessness. Anne in her way loves him, but has come to learn that marriage to Pierre will eventually drown her in...nothing; less passion, less feeling.

Auteuil's Pierre is something of a sad sack. He always needs a shave. He seems to have few emotional resources. His love for his young son is palpable. He'll see the boy two weekends a month, but knows that will never be enough to really be in his son's life. Huppert, as usual, is a master at demonstrating less is more. She shows less emotion, her motives are, on the surface, perhaps egocentric. As we realize what Anne's life has become, however, Huppert demonstrates the longing for something more...with a glance, a tentative motion to touch Pierre on the shoulder, a flash of exasperation. She's not heartless, she may not entirely know what she wants, but with Pierre she has come to know what she doesn't want. As one character says, "With a couple, one suffers and the other one's bored, and vice versa."

Why do I think the movie is somewhat uninvolving? Because the story-line goes straight from A (We see Anne pull her hand away from Pierre when he reaches out to touch her and she later tells him he irritated her) to Z (The divorce has been granted and we last see Pierre, scruffy as usual, wandering at night lost amongst some small streets trying to catch a cab). There are no surprises, no expectations and, in my view, just an overly film-ish look at the marriage's disintegration. For the most part, Anne and Pierre are just too civilized about everything, and all the doors to explore are closed by the conventions of the film. Could Pierre really not shape himself up, or at least try? Is Anne really as committed to a new life without Pierre as she seems? We never meet the other man, and toward the end of the movie he's no longer a factor in the plot. Although we learn that the divorce conditions will strongly favor the wife, could Pierre not privately work out with Anne much more contact with their son?

With all that said, Huppert and Auteuil are the heart of the film. They are so subtle and so authentic that I was completely caught up in the feelings of their characters -- and only later after a second viewing was I really aware of the job they were doing. These two actors make this movie worth watching.

The DVD looks just fine.

Recommended........2007-02-28

As a fan of Daniel Auteuil, I was not disappointed with this film. It is a sad story about two people who love each other, but are not able to hear and understand each other, and cannot express their love. Inability to be attentive to feelings, thoughts and worries of the partner leads to ugly scenes which not reveal the real personality, but rather mislead about it.
It is a fine and deep psychological research. I gave to this film four stars because I compare it with 'Veuve de Saint Pierre' and 'Le Gout des Autres' which are absolutely brilliant. But it is a very fine film without any comparisons.

Outstanding French drama.......2006-09-09

As an ageing soixante-huitard with a love-rival, Auteuil tries to hold onto the idealism of his relationship with Huppert's Anne, succeeding only in compounding the confusion and hurt from the threatened split. Huppert is the perfect foil for this, a discreetly neurotic idealist herself, trying to conquer her own confusion beneath the surface and simply increasing Pierre's frustration. An acting masterclass.

Director Christian Vincent provides unblinking coverage of the story as it unravels. His contributions are subtle: Vertigoesque colour symbolism that informs the psychology of the story (he uses blue, grey and dowdy colours for the men and brighter colours, predominantly red for the women) and sparing music, only topping and tailing the piece with the theme of a suite of variations - a quiet but entirely apposite gesture. Its realism, violence, vitality and unselfconscious intelligence are supremely marshaled in what must be the finest French film I've seen. [from Framescourer's IMDb review]

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