Gabrielle (2005)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col/bw/scope 90m
Director: Patrice Chéreau
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Claudia Coli
Synopsis:
The wife of a Parisian plutocrat leaves him for his newspaper editor, but immediately changes her mind and returns home, plunging them both into an unbearable crucible of recrimination and despair. Meanwhile their army of servants watches, more or less the soul of discretion.
Review:
In black and white and colour letterbox compositions, Chéreau's mise en scène hovers in typically uneasy close-up, his characters like coiled springs ready to snap. The formalism is even more pronounced than before, with a modernist music track counterpointing the dialogue and narration on screen in an unsettling fashion. It is basically a two-hander, with both actors delivering beautifully nuanced, raw performances which expose them both emotionally and, in Miss Huppert's case, physically. A relaxing evening's viewing it ain't, but it is compelling.
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col/bw/scope 90m
Director: Patrice Chéreau
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Claudia Coli
Synopsis:
The wife of a Parisian plutocrat leaves him for his newspaper editor, but immediately changes her mind and returns home, plunging them both into an unbearable crucible of recrimination and despair. Meanwhile their army of servants watches, more or less the soul of discretion.
Review:
In black and white and colour letterbox compositions, Chéreau's mise en scène hovers in typically uneasy close-up, his characters like coiled springs ready to snap. The formalism is even more pronounced than before, with a modernist music track counterpointing the dialogue and narration on screen in an unsettling fashion. It is basically a two-hander, with both actors delivering beautifully nuanced, raw performances which expose them both emotionally and, in Miss Huppert's case, physically. A relaxing evening's viewing it ain't, but it is compelling.
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: col/bw/scope 90m
Director: Patrice Chéreau
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Pascal Greggory, Claudia Coli
Synopsis:
The wife of a Parisian plutocrat leaves him for his newspaper editor, but immediately changes her mind and returns home, plunging them both into an unbearable crucible of recrimination and despair. Meanwhile their army of servants watches, more or less the soul of discretion.
Review:
In black and white and colour letterbox compositions, Chéreau's mise en scène hovers in typically uneasy close-up, his characters like coiled springs ready to snap. The formalism is even more pronounced than before, with a modernist music track counterpointing the dialogue and narration on screen in an unsettling fashion. It is basically a two-hander, with both actors delivering beautifully nuanced, raw performances which expose them both emotionally and, in Miss Huppert's case, physically. A relaxing evening's viewing it ain't, but it is compelling.