Can philosophy save a person's life? For Nathalie Chazeaux (Huppert), a Paris high school's philosophy teacher, the answer seems affirmative. Practicing what she preaches, Nathalie operates her mundane bourgeois life routinely between her work, she is apolitical but is miffed when organized strikes block the access of her students, and family, married to Heinz (Marcon) for over 20 years, they have two adult children now. Although being constantly pestered by her obsessive mother Yvette (Scob), an ex-model who cannot cope with her senility, apparently, Nathalie doesn't take it as a pet peeve, she retains a semblance of coolness that seems both aloof and familiar, you don't see her berate Yvette for her unconscionable conduct, Nathalie is philosophical to the hilt, nothing can ruffle her becalmed surface, the textbook she writes is not popular,so what, such ought to be the beneficent after-effect of being a perennial, avid imbiber of our ancestry's wisdom. To her reading is like breathing.
But you never know what comes tomorrow, life can throw you a curveball without much of a warning, after bereavement and the sudden dissolution of her marriage, Nathalie is surprised to find new freedom in this stage of her life, and fends off the existential crisis by exploring something new, like paying a visit to the countryside commune resided by her favorite former-student Fabien (Kolinka), and is not offended by their different ideology, or taking care of Yvette's black cat Pandora despite of her self-claimed allergy. Nathalie's adjustment of life's undertow sets up a good example, her spiritual life is so enriched that if you think carnal knowledge is the go-to sop to her, you are wide of the mark.
THINGS TO COME is the fourth feature of French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve, ex-partner of Olivier Assayas, it won her a Silver Bear for Best Director in Berlin, and Nathalie is loosely based on her own mother. If your first impression about philosophy is pretension, rest assured that Hansen-Løve has no pretentious bone in her body, notable names of philosophers are strewn into the plot (it starts with the tomb of Chateaubriand), but she is not a pedlar of any particular -ism, she is eclectic and liberal, and brilliantly keeps her intentionality in check, which is crystallized in her directorial style, intimate yet crisp, nothing is overstated. To give an example, the matter-of-fact scene where Heinz implies to stay for the Christmas dinner, but is casually brushed off by Nathalie, it is brief, but limpidity is there glistening,and you should give Nathalie, and Hansen-Løve, a round of applause.
Huppert is in her top form and Nathalie seems a bespoke role for her, it is striking to watch the almost fathomless sinews of energy stem from her petite figure, there is more vitality when she scurries barefoot in the mudflat than whatever she does in Paul Verhoeven's ELLE (2016), and Nathalie's erudition is stone-cold believable when Huppert keeps up appearances, and when she breaks down or gets emotional, you are totally in sympathy with her bandwidth. It is quite difficult to add a label to Hansen-Løve's aesthetic felicity, it looks effortless and feels amorphous, certainly she is an auteur who has her own vision and narratological traits, but most prominently, she hasn't let an artist's hubris sully her work, for that matter, THINGS TO COME is a real class act.
referential entries: Paul Verhoeven's ELLE (2016, 8.0/10); Olivier Assayas' SUMMER HOURS (2008, 7.7/10).
English Title: Things to Come
Original Ttile: L'avenir
Year: 2016
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Germany
Language: French, English, German
Director/Screenwriter: Mia Hansen-Løve
Cinematography: Denis Lenoir
Editing: Elsa Pharaon
Cast:
Isabelle Huppert
André Marcon
Roman Kolinka
Edith Scob
Sarah Le Picard
Solal Forte
Yves Heck
Rachel Arditi
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
Elise Lhomeau
Guy-Patrick Sainderichin
Rating: 8.1/10
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