HAUTE COUTURE
****
Director: Sylvie Ohayon
Screenplay: Sylvie Ohayon
Principal cast:
Nathalie Baye
Lyna Khoudri
Pascale Arbillot
Claude Perron
Soumaye Bocoum
Adam Bessa
Country: France
Classification: M
Runtime: 100 mins.
Australian release date: 30 June 2022.
Sylvie Ohayon, the director of the delightful French comedy-drama Haute Couture, is primarily an author; she has written six books and, prior to this work, has only directed one other film. Her movie draws inspiration from her own life and the troubled relationship she had with her daughter when the girl was in her teens. Last year she told Cineuropa that, “I mainly made this film for my daughter, Jade [also the name of the young woman in the film], whom I’ve had a tricky relationship with, especially during her teenage years. She would push me away and I would say: ‘Jade, you’re rejecting me as a mother, so you need to find another female figure who can help you grow up and become what you want to be.’” That difficult connection turned out to provide fertile ground for Obayon and became the basis for Haute Couture’s excellent screenplay.
The film brings together two unlikely characters, although they have more in common with each other than either of them first realise. Esther (the always outstanding Nathalie Baye) is the head seamstress of the Christian Dior fashion house. She lives alone at the end of a railway line in the Parisian suburbs and commutes into the city to start her working day at eight o’clock. The only day she doesn’t work is Sunday, when she attends to her rose garden. On the way to work one day, her bag is snatched by Souad (Soumaye Bocoum), who’s scamming with her friend Jade (Lyna Khoudri). When events contrive to force Jade to return the bag to Esther at the Dior atelier, she is surprised when, instead of reporting her to the authorities, Esther takes her out for a meal. The older woman has spotted something in Jade that she herself hasn’t recognised and she makes her a surprising offer - if she comes to the studio every day, Esther will teach her the skills of her trade. She says that Jade has the perfect hands for the job and, because Esther is being forced to retire, she wishes to pass on her knowledge to someone else.
If that outline makes Haute Couture sound like a load of sentimental claptrap, don’t be put off - it’s not. Jade is a fiery 23-year-old of North African heritage who lives with her ill mother in a high-rise block in the outer suburbs and she’s not about to be told how to behave by anyone, least of all a person she’s barely knows. Nevertheless, she’s intrigued enough to start turning up at the studio and where she gets another surprise - most of the women who work there are working class, just like her. None of them will ever get to wear the beautiful designs that their skilled workmanship brings to life. And Esther is no push over, either. She complains, saying “I like life. Life doesn’t like me”. In fact, she’s just as prejudiced as Jade is and has caused a rift with her only daughter because of her dedication to her craft.
The two lead actresses, Baye and Khoudri, are superb and it seems odd that both performances were overlooked in the César Awards. There’s also a very solid supporting cast of minor roles, especially Bocoum as Jade’s best friend, who feels left out when Jade starts going to work on a regular basis. With Haute Couture, Sylvie Obayon shows that she has a real touch for filmmaking and for delving deep into the many facets of a story. She has brought her characters to full-blooded life while avoiding the pitfall of making them too good to be true or the plot overly sentimental; her film has real charm but it’s certainly no fairy tale.
Screenplay: Sylvie Ohayon
Principal cast:
Nathalie Baye
Lyna Khoudri
Pascale Arbillot
Claude Perron
Soumaye Bocoum
Adam Bessa
Country: France
Classification: M
Runtime: 100 mins.
Australian release date: 30 June 2022.
Sylvie Ohayon, the director of the delightful French comedy-drama Haute Couture, is primarily an author; she has written six books and, prior to this work, has only directed one other film. Her movie draws inspiration from her own life and the troubled relationship she had with her daughter when the girl was in her teens. Last year she told Cineuropa that, “I mainly made this film for my daughter, Jade [also the name of the young woman in the film], whom I’ve had a tricky relationship with, especially during her teenage years. She would push me away and I would say: ‘Jade, you’re rejecting me as a mother, so you need to find another female figure who can help you grow up and become what you want to be.’” That difficult connection turned out to provide fertile ground for Obayon and became the basis for Haute Couture’s excellent screenplay.
The film brings together two unlikely characters, although they have more in common with each other than either of them first realise. Esther (the always outstanding Nathalie Baye) is the head seamstress of the Christian Dior fashion house. She lives alone at the end of a railway line in the Parisian suburbs and commutes into the city to start her working day at eight o’clock. The only day she doesn’t work is Sunday, when she attends to her rose garden. On the way to work one day, her bag is snatched by Souad (Soumaye Bocoum), who’s scamming with her friend Jade (Lyna Khoudri). When events contrive to force Jade to return the bag to Esther at the Dior atelier, she is surprised when, instead of reporting her to the authorities, Esther takes her out for a meal. The older woman has spotted something in Jade that she herself hasn’t recognised and she makes her a surprising offer - if she comes to the studio every day, Esther will teach her the skills of her trade. She says that Jade has the perfect hands for the job and, because Esther is being forced to retire, she wishes to pass on her knowledge to someone else.
If that outline makes Haute Couture sound like a load of sentimental claptrap, don’t be put off - it’s not. Jade is a fiery 23-year-old of North African heritage who lives with her ill mother in a high-rise block in the outer suburbs and she’s not about to be told how to behave by anyone, least of all a person she’s barely knows. Nevertheless, she’s intrigued enough to start turning up at the studio and where she gets another surprise - most of the women who work there are working class, just like her. None of them will ever get to wear the beautiful designs that their skilled workmanship brings to life. And Esther is no push over, either. She complains, saying “I like life. Life doesn’t like me”. In fact, she’s just as prejudiced as Jade is and has caused a rift with her only daughter because of her dedication to her craft.
The two lead actresses, Baye and Khoudri, are superb and it seems odd that both performances were overlooked in the César Awards. There’s also a very solid supporting cast of minor roles, especially Bocoum as Jade’s best friend, who feels left out when Jade starts going to work on a regular basis. With Haute Couture, Sylvie Obayon shows that she has a real touch for filmmaking and for delving deep into the many facets of a story. She has brought her characters to full-blooded life while avoiding the pitfall of making them too good to be true or the plot overly sentimental; her film has real charm but it’s certainly no fairy tale.