With her sophomore feature, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet made her first trip up the red carpet steps today as one of the several competition first-timers. Sshe unveiled her short Pauline asservie at Critics’ Week in 2018, then presented her debut feature Les Amours d’Anaïs as a special screening at the 60th Critics’ Week (read our glowing ★★★½ review). La Vie d’une femme aka A Woman’s Life features players Léa Drucker, Mélanie Thierry, Charles Berling and Laurent Capelluto and follows Gabrielle, 55, a highly dedicated head surgeon at a public hospital whose life is defined by relentless professional commitment, leaving little space for her personal world — including a devoted husband and an aging mother who depends on her care. When a novelist arrives in her ward to research a book, Gabrielle’s carefully balanced existence begins to quietly unravel. Over the course of two films we are looking at themes of female desire and its uncomfortable eruptions into ordered lives; the suffocating weight of professional and social obligation on women; and the unexpected encounter that cracks a life open. This is a France-Belgium co-production. This is competition film #2 of 22.
The first female filmmaker and French talent to showcase in the Palme d’Or comp, the world premiere took place later in the day. With eleven film critics weighing in, we are at the 2.8 mark – for what was a generally liked film.
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