CLAUDE GORETTA
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.5
Original title: La Dentelliere
France/Switzerland/West Germany, 1977. Action Films, Citel Films, Filmproduktion Janus, France 3. Screenplay by Pascal Laine, Claude Goretta, based on the novel by Pascal Laine. Cinematography by Jean Boffety. Produced by Daniel Toscan du Plantier. Music by Pierre Jansen. Production Design by Claude Chevant, Serge Etter. Film Editing by Joele Van Effenterre.
Isabelle Huppert had her first lead role with this powerful drama, and she displays the phenomenal sensitivity that would mark her career in the years to come. She plays a young, inexperienced beauty salon employee who goes on a seaside vacation with her reckless, recently single girlfriend. Huppert meets a sweet university student of bourgeois origins who falls in love with her and they set up together as soon as they return to Paris. Class differences are unavoidable, especially in any story based on a French novel, and the trouble that begins takes its toll on our heroine’s emotions. Beautifully photographed and directed with marvelous delicacy, this is a rare treat for fans of Huppert and anyone else who loves cerebral, penetrating French cinema.
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