Summary
In 1942, a young Jewish woman, Léna, marries a French soldier, Michel, to avoid
being deported to Germany. Meanwhile, another young woman, Madeleine gets
married to an artist, Raymond, who is subsequently killed by a Resistance sniper.
During the Liberation, Madeleine meets and later marries another man, Costard. Ten
years later, the two women meet at their children’s school and find that they have a natural
affinity for one another. They spend more time together and begin to make plans
for the future. But as their friendship grows, the two women seem to drift further
away from their husbands...
Review
With two formidable actresses in the leading roles and a female director, Coup de foudre
is a rare French film with a distinctly feminine perspective. This is important
because the film is about an intimate, yet platonic, relationship between two women, a
theme which is seldom explored as thoroughly and candidly in French cinema.
Whilst the film is not without some faults (for example, the uneven pacing and some unnecessary
attempts at tear-jerking), it does manage to depict very convincingly the value and power
of a woman-woman relationship, and the strains this can bring to the husband-wife relationship.
One of the unwritten edicts of our society is that a wife can have close female friends,
but the husband cannot have such close male friends. This is possibly one of the
factors that can contribute to a marital breakdown, and it is this theme that Coup
de foudre addresses with great maturity and sensitivity.
Probably the best thing about this film is its beautiful yet alluringly melancholic photography
– particularly the war-time scenes at the start of the film, which display a meticulous
attention to detail. The camera work is often brilliantly evocative and lends much
to the emotional integrity of the film.
The acting performances are equally enjoyable. Miou-Miou and Isabelle Huppert need
no introduction – both are renowned for playing complex and emotionally troubled female
characters. They seem perfectly cast in this film – Huppert as the passive, repressed
Léna, and Miou-Miou as the disenchanted but optimistic Madeleine. Guy Marchard
is also an fine form, playing the difficult role of Léna’s husband. There
is a magnificent tension between the three characters which really does convey the impression
of a brewing storm. The poignant ending is excellently pre-empted, and this
serves to reinforce the profound sense of loss which afflicts Léna and her husband.
© James Travers 2000
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