La Garce caught my interest because it’s an early role of Isabelle Huppert, one of my favorite actresses who’s always the best part of anything she’s in. This was no different, but what I didn’t expect was that she would be the one redeeming factor of what seemed to be a great premise. To put it simply, after watching this movie, all I’m left with are questions, and every single one of them starts with “why?”. The main one would be: why is Aline/Édith in love with Lucien? A turning point for the messy crime/mafia plot relies on the fact that Aline/Édith is so in love with this man she only met once and accused of rape that she 1) betrays her mafia boyfriend™️ 2) thinks he of all people will for sure help her even though she ruined his life. This girl doesn’t even acknowledge the rape accusation when she and Lucien reunite. And why did she do it in the first place? If it was to hide the fact that she cheated on Max the mafia boyfriend™️, he wasn’t even there when it happened and couldn’t know about it. And if she did feel raped by Lucien, how could she years later be in love with him? None of these hypothesis are really explored, not even to make a case for a more nuanced explanation. This kind of ruined a big part of the story for me, but Isabelle Huppert is a scene-stealer and her character is very present in this movie, so I ended up not having a bad time. Aline/Édith is like a prototype of Huppert’s more famous roles like Michèle Leblanc in Elle and Erika Kohut in La Pianiste: mad, bad and dangerous to know, but complex, with hidden depths and some fragility behind the cold exterior. It’s always a pleasure to watch great artists and their craft.
La Garce caught my interest because it’s an early role of Isabelle Huppert, one of my favorite actresses who’s always the best part of anything she’s in. This was no different, but what I didn’t expect was that she would be the one redeeming factor of what seemed to be a great premise. To put it simply, after watching this movie, all I’m left with are questions, and every single one of them starts with “why?”. The main one would be: why is Aline/Édith in love with Lucien? A turning point for the messy crime/mafia plot relies on the fact that Aline/Édith is so in love with this man she only met once and accused of rape that she 1) betrays her mafia boyfriend™️ 2) thinks he of all people will for sure help her even though she ruined his life. This girl doesn’t even acknowledge the rape accusation when she and Lucien reunite. And why did she do it in the first place? If it was to hide the fact that she cheated on Max the mafia boyfriend™️, he wasn’t even there when it happened and couldn’t know about it. And if she did feel raped by Lucien, how could she years later be in love with him? None of these hypothesis are really explored, not even to make a case for a more nuanced explanation. This kind of ruined a big part of the story for me, but Isabelle Huppert is a scene-stealer and her character is very present in this movie, so I ended up not having a bad time. Aline/Édith is like a prototype of Huppert’s more famous roles like Michèle Leblanc in Elle and Erika Kohut in La Pianiste: mad, bad and dangerous to know, but complex, with hidden depths and some fragility behind the cold exterior. It’s always a pleasure to watch great artists and their craft.
