French Film Reviews: Things to Come (L’Avenir)

Our esteem for Isabelle Huppert knows no bounds so her perfectly controlled, mesmerizing performance in this superb, if often heartbreakingly sad, film by Mia Hansen-Løve, comes as little surprise.

Huppert brings her own intellectual puissance to the role of a character who is her intellectual equal: a philosophy teacher dealing with traumatic bombshells as she approaches the ‘third act’ of her life. Add to the mix her need to reassess her somewhat diluted political views, a sick mother who cries wolf too often and a husband who decides to leave, and you have a woman who may well implode. Instead she opts for the personal freedom route…

Director: Mia Hansen-Løve

Cert: 12A

Running time: 102 mins

From France Today magazine