L’AVENIR (THINGS TO COME) (France/Germany 2016) ****
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve
Director Hansen-Løve’s (LA PERE DE MES ENFANTS, UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE, EDEN) latest feature is again a film about life and living. Like in the other 3 films mentioned, her protagonist undergoes a major change in life in the midst of the movie. Nathalie (another excellent performance by Isabelle Huppert) is a dedicated and demanding teacher, wife, and mother whose life is jolted when her husband of many years leaves her for another woman. As her life slowly crumbles (she loses her publications as well), Nathalie slowly adapts using her background in philosophy. Nathalie is not as assured and confident as she is in the past. Her black, obsess cat, Pandora stands also as a metaphor for her life. But Nathalie, at least finds an unlikely friend in a former student, the radical young communist Fabien (Roman Kolinka).
The film is also beautifully shot in Normandy in a beautiful vacation house where the tides waters of the sea come into the backyard (my personal dream home). The musical score ranging from classical (Schubert) to folk (Woody Guthrie) is marvellous. There are lots more to relate, reference and to enjoy in Hansen-Løve’s film such as a short clip seen of her husband Olivier Assaya’s film in one scene.
As in all of Hansen-Løve’s films, L’AVENIR is an intelligent, handsomely mounted production that is an entertaining and insightful look on life and living.
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