User reviews

This film is not what one may expect. Trailers leave one to think it's dramatic, but it's mostly a dramedy (comedy/drama), leaning more towards comedy. Deneuve has impeccable comedic timing, and it's a surprising side of her that many don't get to see in her numerous other films. Some reviews describe her character, Fabienne, as a narcissist, but those are clearly people who don't know what true narcissists are like. One can say that Fabienne is somewhat self-absorbed, though given that she's an actress, she is rather self-aware and not as selfish as one would expect (if you know the entertainment industry). Binoche and Deneuve have excellent chemistry on screen, and the difficulty in their relationship plays off well: both stylistically and emotionally. The film is a gentle view of a mother-daughter relationship that has been built on misunderstandings from two people who are quite different in their approach to the world around them. There are many laughs, but a few tears, awaiting the audience. It's one of Deneuve's best roles in a few years and she gives it her all. Binoche provides the more tangible emotions of the film, but don't let Fabienne (Deneuve) fool you into thinking she doesn't care or feel much at all. And that is the Truth.

What is the truth, and what is your truth about another person when they have their own truth about you ? The eternal question, and as we all have different perceptions of others and they also have of you the question is what it is - a simple question. This film, directed rather badly in my opinion by Hirokazu Kareeda is not that interesting, and the film is saved by Catherine Deneuve's excellent performance, and she plays to a certain extent ( perhaps ) certain aspects of herself as an actor who has always been in control. It is also a film about making a film, and here I found the dialogue tiresome and rather boring to watch. Juliette Binoche is not at her best and badly supported by the ( to me ) annoying Ethan Hawke. They play daughter and son-in-law to Deneuve and have an annoying child with them. A ping pong match of both the English language and the French language ensues and this too is distracting and not necessary, and all for Ethan Hawke's supposed inability to understand French. Roger van Hool makes an appearance as Binoche's father ( he played Deneuve's lover in ' La Chamade ) and he certainly reminded me of how fleetingly time goes by, and in his eccentric performance deeply moved me. There are far too many other actors and mostly the film lost focus, with the exception of scenes such as a dinner party for the ' family ' which tries to ferret out truths and old recriminations. This subject matter has been seen before and perhaps too much so, but as I said Deneuve gets a 7 from me for her presence alone. The soundtrack music is frankly bad, and to sum up this is a pretentious film that rarely rises above the mainstream.

Koreeda in his best when making a low-key family drama with a dash of comedy in it. 'The Truth', or 'La Vérité', is a solid proof that he able to do it with the singular quality no matter what the language is. Charming, witty, melancholic and eventually heartwarming.

"The Truth" (2019 release from France; 106 min.) brings the story of Fabienne and her forty-something daughter Lumir and her family. As the movie opens, we see Fabienne being interviewed at her house in Paris. She is a past winner of 2 Cezannes (the French Oscars) and is about to start a new film. And oh, she also has a new memoir out called "La Verite" ("The Truth"). Shortly thereafter Lumir and her husband Hank and their young daughter Charlotte arrive at Fabienne's house. Lumir reminds Fabienne that she didn't keep her promise to send an advance copy of the memoir's manuscript to her (she lives in New York; Fabienne blames the mail). When reading the memoir, Lumir finds one fabrication after another. She confronts her mom, but Fabienne brushes her off: "My memories, my book." At this point we are less than 15 min. into the film but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film from Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda (he won the 2018 Cannes Festival Palm d'Or for "Shoplifters"). Here he really goes outside his comfort zone, working for the first time on a non-Japanese spoken film. As big a challenge as that had to be form him (since he doesn't speak French himself), it only brings out the best of him and his all-star cast. Catherine Deneuve shines as the cranky ol' actress who seemingly always must have the last word (or does she?). Ethan Hawk is underused as Hank. But the real star here is surely Juliette Binoche, who is absolutely brilliant as the frustrated daughter who ended up going to New York to escape the never-ending shadow of her mom the star actress. A special kudos as well to the perfectly bilingual little girl playing Charlotte, jumping between French and English without as much as a single literary "faux pas". There are many other aspects of the movie that make this a delight to see and enjoy, but I don't want to spoil anything accidentally. In the end, just sit back and watch these giants of French cinema (Deneuve, Binoche) go at it. True acting royalty is what these ladies are.

The trailer of "The Truth" was playing in theaters in early March and then of course the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, bring the movie industry to a screeching halt. Now 4 months later, my local art-house theater has cautiously reopened (with strict adherence to all COVID-19 measures, including social distancing and wearing a mask). "The Truth" opened this past weekend. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (5 people in total, including myself), which which was just fine but you gotta wonder how financially viable it is for theaters to operate under thee conditions. Meanwhile, if you are in the mood for a top-notch foreign film, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD (most likely), or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

A 2019 showcase for French icon Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve is an actress (I know an extreme stretch of the imagination!) who has a telltale book coming out. During an interview w/a journalist, we see Deneuve's daughter, her husband & their child are arriving for a visit. The couple played by Juliette Binoche & Ethan Hawke settle into the background as the not so heightened preparations are under way for the ensuing book tour but taking a sampling of Deneuve's magnum opus, Binoche realizes some of the truths espoused in the tome are of the made up variety. Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters) he elicits more quiet moments of revelation than knock down, drag out outbursts which would leave the glassware trembling in fear but by focusing on 2 of the most important French actresses of a few generations (Deneuve has been at it for more than 50 years), we get the gist of the affair rather than the melodramatic sweep. Hawke stays bemusedly in the background (probably took the role just to work w/these titans was incentive enough) as he watches from the wings.

The movie itself is okay. But I think those two powerhouse actresses bring the whole thing together. They are mesmerizing, it's like the whole project is set for them to act and feed of each other's lines and expressions. It's like Hawke got the memo and just was like "ok, count me in! I'd love to just stay there and witness some magic!" (That's a joke...but is it though?)

After having loved "Let Them All Talk" starring Meryl Streep and being in love with "Swimming Pool" with Ludivine Sagnier it is fun to watch France's national institution Catherine Deneuve. Juliette Binoche is awesome as always (great wardrobe by the way) and Alain Libolt is fantastic. Ethan Hawke acts as if he had just escaped his film "Strangers" before arriving in France. One might think this is a film where they just went ahead like in Federico Fellini's 8 1/2. The reviewer loves Catherine Deneuve ever since seeing her in "Repulsion" b Roman Polanski. Alex von Roon actually applied at film schools with a Mondo style short film Dogma style having incorporated "Belle Du Jour" so we are a bit biased here. Any cineaste will love this eclectic cast & the French scenery. The dog in the film delivers a great performance just like famous Uggie (The artist). Surely this film is different than the work under the same title starring Brigitte Bardot and the "Gosford Park" like slow slowness could be tightened, but to watch the unexpected choices or shall we say behavior of Catherine Deneuve makes it worth it, where one does not want it to end. Maybe Michael Haneke can shoot part deux? If not, who would not be interested, yours truly included.

Greetings again from the darkness. Surely every movie lover will savor the chance to watch two of France's screen titans go at each other as combative mother and daughter. Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche don't disappoint in this latest from writer-director Hirokazu Koreeda, who was previously Oscar nominated for SHOPLIFTERS (2018).

Ms. Deneuve stars as Fabienne Dangeville, an aging French Oscar winning actress who has recently published her memoir. To celebrate the book, her daughter Lumir (Ms. Binoche) is coming with her family for a visit. Husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) is a self-admitted second rate actor, and their daughter Charlotte (newcomer Clementine Grenier) is awfully cute and meeting her grandmother for the first time. Lumir is a scriptwriter, and harbors less-than-favorable childhood memories of dear old mom.

The personalities of mother and daughter are pretty easy to ascertain. Fabienne admits "I'd rather be a bad mother, a bad friend, and a good actress." She's a petty and sometimes nasty woman, who's quite self-aware. Lumir is the type that has critiqued her mother's memoir with post-it notes throughout, and calls her out on the false claims of being a doting mother. Most of the movie deals with memories, honesty, and family relationships. It's not just Lumir who is bothered by book. Fabienne's long time handler Luc (French screen veteran Alain Libolt) reacts strongly to being omitted entirely, as if he never existed.

Fabienne waves off the criticisms by claiming she's an actress, so the naked truth is not expected ... whereas interesting stories are. The film opens with Fabienne being interviewed by a journalist (Laurent Capelutto, "Black Spot"), and between this interview and what we learn of the memoir, we can't help but chuckle at some of the real life similarities. First, Ms. Deneuve's real middle name is Fabienne, and there are teases of her multiple lovers and "almost" movie with Alfred Hitchcock.

A large portion of the film is spent on the film-within-the-film that Fabienne is working on. It's a science-fiction film (from a short story written by Ken Liu) that focuses on an unusual and difficult mother-daughter relationship. Lumir spots the obvious symmetry, but we are never really sure if Fabienne does, as she's so busy firing barbs at the lead actress played by rising star Manon Lenoir (the first feature for Manon Clavel). For the elder Fabienne, acting has always been about being a star, so she struggles seeing the younger actress take a role she herself would have embodied 50 years prior.

Other supporting work comes from Christian Crahay as Jacques, Fabienne's live-in cook (and more); Roger Van Hool as Pierre (man, not turtle) as Lumir's father who is listed as deceased in the book; and Ludivine Sagnier (SWIMMING POOL, 2003) who plays a younger version of Fabienne's character in the film-within-the-film. One key character we never actually see is Sarah, a deceased woman who was a friend and fellow actress to Fabienne, and a kind of surrogate mother to Lumir when she was a young girl. Sarah's memory still hovers over the lives of Fabienne and Lumir, and may be at the heart of any possible reconciliation. Koreeda is a terrific director, and watching the performances here is quite entertaining. We do have the feeling that the script could have gone deeper emotionally had it not attempted to tackle so much. Additionally, many scenes felt like they were begging for more biting comedy than what was there. This is mostly played straight, which leaves Ms. Deneuve and Ms. Binoche to carry the load - a burden they handle quite capably.

"Mise en abyme is the first thing comes to your reviewer's mind, not just because Deneuve seems to inherently play a version of herself - "Fabienne" is actually her middle name, who ascends to the top rung of the acting vocation, at the expense of almost everything else (maternal duty, matrimonial harmony, etc.), now her daughter returns from abroad with a mild grudge, especially after the latter discovers that in Fabienne's memoir, facts are completely editorialized at its subject's will -, but also in the movie-within-the-movie, it is Fabienne's own quest to reconcile with her (screen) mother that reflects the strained affinity she forges with Lumir, now, finally, it is high time for an egocentric prima donna, who has seldom deigned to bother the earthly worries, to descend from the pedestal (which means to take off the magical guise and reveal her true feelings), and perhaps it is not too late for Fabienne to find some domestic bliss in her wintry years."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

Gotta hand it to Kore Eda, taking on the French language and La Reine Catherine at the same time. Not surprising that he is bested somewhat.

There's enough to like. I smiled when the Deneuve character disses the Hawke character as an actor. Same could be true in real life. But the Hawke character does riffs on the "Before Sunrise" franchise he was in, also fun.

Some of Deneuve's film-within-a-film scenes are true and affecting. But I agree with other comments, that the partial mother-daughter reconciliation at the end is out of whack with what's gone before. Lessens the whole movie.

Catherine Deneuve playing the worst version of herself, an aging actress ensconced in furs ("La femme sage") who starred in "Belle de Paris" ("Belle du jour") and also a kids film ("Peau d'âne"?)

Juliette Binoche plays the starkest version of her role as a "serious" literary/artistic person ("Bleu", "Doubles vies") who is married to a foreigner ("Certified Copy") in a somewhat strained but ultimately loving relationship.

Ethan Hawk's career is referenced by the fact that the film within a film is an epic about aging and familial generations ("Boyhood", "Before" series.)

Anyway, it's just hard to get into this movie when it's so clearly Frankenstein's-monstered together from elements of the actors' actual careers. I guess it was interesting (it held my attention) and I appreciate how essentially plotless it was (one of the highest attributes a film can have imo) but... I don't know. There's a lot here that could fool you into thinking a mediocre movie is a great one. It pulls so many Almodóvarian (or Ozonesque) tricks without having the heart at the center.

And I have to say: whatever cred this movie builds up as a serious piece of art cinema, it totally spends on the maudlin, tv-movie score. Just ditch the music altogether bro - you don't need it!

I'll say this: I'm definitely intrigued enough to want to see some of Koreeda's Japanese language films.

This movie is Catherine Deneuve. Catherine Deneuve is the movie. All is about her. She is a middle aged actress who is now filming in a sci-fi movie which she even despises a bit. She has recently published an autobiographic book of memoirs. Her daughter (Juliette Binoche) who lives in New York has come to France to take notice of that book with her husband and young daughter. Between mother and daughter soon starts a confrontation about this and that. Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) has a strong personality which she imposes on everybody although most people like and admire her very much. This is a good movie made also for us to admire that great actress.