The Truth (La verite) – Movie Review
Review by Geoff Jenke
After the global success of the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters, master auteur KORE-EDA Hirokazu’s wry and charming new dramedy THE TRUTH pairs beloved Academy Award nominees Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche for the first time, as a celebrated actress and her estranged daughter whose tentative reunion offers an opportunity to either repair or irrevocably fracture their relationship.
Fabienne (Deneuve) is a star; a much loved, larger-than-life icon of French cinema. When she publishes her memoirs, her screenwriter daughter Lumir (Binoche) returns to Paris from New York for the occasion, with her struggling actor husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their inquisitive young daughter Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) in tow. It comes as no surprise to Lumir that everything in her grand childhood home still revolves around her mother, and as she begins to read Fabienne’s book it becomes clear it’s riddled with omissions and embellishments – especially with regard to her relationship with the great artistic rival of her past, Sarah Mondavan.
Fabienne herself has no time for explanations and small talk; she’s preparing for her next film, a science-fiction drama, cast alongside a rising new talent (Manon Clavel) touted as ‘the next Sarah Mondavan’. When Fabienne’s long-suffering assistant unexpectedly quits, she and Lumir are reluctantly forced into an awkward working relationship, with Lumir revisiting the same film studios where she spent countless hours as a child. As the on and off-set worlds begin to amusingly – and movingly – intertwine, suppressed emotions and secrets can no longer be kept in check.
The movie shows the complexity of complex families. The Truth is a movie about memories and perception. Is what you remember as a child really the truth? Is this memory responsible for the breakdown of a mother/daughter relationship?
It all sounds very serious and to a certain point it is, however there are wonderful humorous moments, non-more so involving a turtle called Pierre and a grandfather with the same name. Also, full marks to a young Charlotte Clementine Grenier, playing her first movie as a young girl.
While the plot is a low-key affair, the acting is of a very high standard and the interactions between mother and daughter interesting.
Not a bad way to spend 107 minutes on a hot summer’s day.
The Truth screens at Palace Nova from 26th December. Advance screening Palace Nova Prospect on 25 December
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