Excellent, a Must See

A different way of telling a story

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This earns a high rating simply for the gritty, persuasive performance from it's star, Isabelle Huppert, who is called upon to be a mother and an abortionist, to be a lover and a murderer, to be a free spirit and a prisoner of Nazi tyranny; Huppert may never gain your sympathy, and doesn't play for it, but she should gain your understanding as she plays a true-to-life story of a woman severely punished by the French government for a woman's crime that the dominant culture can not countenance because of the political atmosphere at the time--all this, and it's a gripping story,too--but not at all a cheerer-upper.When you have finished watching this film, you may find Huppert's character hasn't quite finished with you, an observant, quiet reminder of the consequences of our actions. Hers is a haunting performance.

From director Claude Chabrol (Le Boucher), from the title it was no obvious what the story or plot of this French film would involve, but I was introduced to it because of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and if it featured in it that was good enough reason for me it a chance. Basically set in World War II, France is occupied by the Nazis, Marie Latour (Isabelle Huppert) is a mother with two children she raises in a decayed flat, she has limited education from her schooling, and her husband Paul (François Cluzet) who was on the front has returned home. Paul's weakness is causing him problems holding a job, so it is up to Marie to make money somehow to support the family, and she discovers a way to use soapy water douche as a way to abort unwanted babies of women, and she charges them for this service. Many of the women she performs abortions for have been impregnated by Germans occupying the country, and with the money she makes she can afford a new flat with more bedrooms, she also rents the bedrooms to prostitutes to take their clients during the day, and she can buy better food and new clothes. Eventually this good fortune turns sour when Paul becomes dismissive towards Marie because he knows what she has been doing for prostitutes and pregnant women, but she is keen to find another career in singing, but of course the authorities catch onto what she is up to, so she is arrested, and becomes one of the last women in France to be guillotined. Also starring Marie Trintignant as Lulu / Lucie and Nils Tavernier as Lucien. I did not realise it was based on a true story, but it makes sense when I think about it, because the harshness of the plot is realistic, and the way that it is played out is well done, the performance of Huppert is suitable for the character as well, it can be uncomfortable in moments, but it is an intriguing Second World War drama. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Worth watching!

Though I had owned this on VHS (recorded off French TV), I only opted to check it out now – after acquiring the film in a version accompanied by English subtitles, on the occasion of its director's birthday. While not a typical effort (being a period melodrama and based on fact to boot), in retrospect, it is justly considered among Chabrol's finest.Star Isabelle Huppert (in one of her best performances, playing an essentially unsympathetic if pitiable type) received the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her work here. Interestingly, I would 'meet' Chabrol there in 2004 where the winning film that year happened to deal with the exact same subject as STORY OF WOMEN – the controversy regarding the practice of abortion, i.e. Mike Leigh's VERA DRAKE! Co-star Francois Cluzet, who acts pretty much as second-fiddle to Huppert in this case, would eventually come into his own under Chabrol's guidance in the similarly excellent L'ENFER (1994). The film, however, also provides a notable showcase for Marie Trintignant in the role of Huppert's prostitute friend; again, the actress would subsequently be promoted to lead status for the same director's BETTY (1992), which I have just watched and reviewed.STORY OF WOMEN, then, makes for compelling viewing in several different keys: as a character study (Huppert wants to be a singer, refuses to sleep with her ex-P.O.W. husband but then takes a much younger lover, of course offers her services to girls 'in trouble' and ultimately renounces her faith while in prison), as a look at war-torn France (though the Nazis are hardly ever in the foreground, the hardships endured by the locals obviously have a lot to do with how they are 'forced' to behave) and as a critique, in the vein of Costa-Gavras' movies, of the justice system (there is no doubt Huppert was at fault but the punishment meted out, to set an example and uphold the country's moral rectitude to counter the dishonor of occupation, was too extreme). Oddly enough, once the husband exposes her to the authorities for rather selfish reasons to begin with, he basically exits the picture and is never shown feeling any kind of remorse.For the record, Chabrol had already treated a cause célèbre in VIOLETTE NOZIERE (1978; which I will get to soon in my ongoing marathon, since I am actually approaching it in reverse chronological order!) and would do so again in the recent A GIRL CUT IN TWO (2007; that I have already viewed and commented upon).

This is the movie that Mike Leigh ripped off in Vera Drake and it's on view again as part of the Isabelle Huppert season at London's National Film Theatre. The overriding impression is the magnificent central performance from Huppert, definitely one of her best and that's saying a lot; one wonders at the folly of asking Imelda Staunton to go up against Huppert; this is something you just don't do unless you happen to be Nathalie Baye, Catherine Frot or Carole Bouquet and even then you make sure your affairs are in order. Chabrol hits almost every target at which he aims and he aims at a lot, the fact that the film is more or less true - based on the story of the last women to face the guillotine in France - is largely academic. In a nice touch for a tale of a woman who treated abortion casually Huppert's own five year old daughter appears as her fictional offspring. The towering central performance is only one strength of a film that is greater than its parts.