THE GODMOTHER
****
Director: Jean-Paul Salomé
Screenplay: Hannelore Cayre and Jean-Paul Salomé in collaboration with Antoine Salomé, based on the novel by Hannelore Cayre.
Principal cast:
Isabelle Huppert
Hippolyte Girardot
Farida Ouchani
Liliane Rovère
Rachid Guellaz
Mourad Boudaoud
Country: France/Belgium
Classification: M
Runtime: 104 mins.
Australian release date: 20 May 2021.
France has given the cinema many acclaimed actresses, stars like Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani, but few are as prolific as Isabelle Huppert, who has appeared in some 120 films since her debut in 1971. And then there’s her work for television and the stage. Her latest movie performance is in Jean-Paul Salomé’s The Godmother (French title La Daronne) in which she plays a translator for the police, the sort of woman who is part of the furniture, barely noticed by her colleagues. Huppert is perfect for such a role - her jolie/laide face lends itself to a person who seems dull and dedicated when at work but is transformed into an altogether more glamorous creature when up to her extra-mural shenanigans. We’ve seen her play women who are a little cold or emotionless before but it’s her blossoming into a sunglass-wearing, hijab-clad character in The Godmother that is fresh and exciting.
Patience Portefeux (Huppert) is a poorly paid Arabic interpreter working for the Parisian police, listening to wire-tap conversations and passing their contents on to her boss Philippe (Hippolyte Girardot). She has a daughter at university and her elderly mother (Liliane Rovère) is in an expensive aged-care home that Patience really can’t afford but the staff, particularly Kadidja (Farida Ouchani), look after her well. So, when Patience listens in on a phone conversation about a delivery of Moroccan hash that involves Kadidja’s son, she feels that she has to tell her so that she can warn him. The upshot of this action leads Patience down a whole new path in life and she becomes the Arab-speaking Madame Ben Barka. She retails her illicit wares through a couple of clueless street-dealers, Chocapic (Mourad Boudaoud) and Scotch (Rachid Guellaz) but, due to her background with the police, she’s a lot smarter than they are. She’s also a lot smarter than the crims who want their hash back and the cops who are starting to realise there’s a new game in town.
Huppert is eminently watchable, as she always is, and it’s great to see une femme d’un certain âge playing a role like this; it’s hard to imagine a Hollywood studio film casting a 68-year-old woman in such a part unless, perhaps, it was Meryl Streep. Girardot is also very good as the slightly crumpled detective who’d like his relationship with Patience to be something more than employer/employee. He’s the kind of guy who’s seen it all and finds it hard to believe what seems to be happening under his nose. Supporting roles are all good, albeit somewhat peripheral to Huppert’s star wattage. She recently told journalist Andy Hazel, “I think in terms of encounters with different directors. For me, that is the key piece to the ensemble. Then comes the script, then comes the role.” She obviously felt the desire to make a caper/crime movie like The Godmother because that seems to the oeuvre in which Jean-Paul Salomé specialises. He’s previously made a number of films in that genre and usually has a hand in writing their scripts as well.
The award-winning eponymous novel (La Daronne) on which this film is based was written by Hannelore Cayre, a lawyer in the French criminal justice system, so the film is drawing on real-life, up to a point. It is true, apparently, that police interpreters are badly paid and receive no benefits. They seem to be regarded as gig-economy workers, which goes some way to explaining Patience’s actions. She’s not greedy, just exploited. The screenplay also has a dig at the way the French cops treat different ethnic and immigrant groups. Leaving aside the social commentary, though, The Godmother is a lot of fun - an interesting combination of heist-movie hijinks, black comedy and pathos, with a feminist twist.
Screenplay: Hannelore Cayre and Jean-Paul Salomé in collaboration with Antoine Salomé, based on the novel by Hannelore Cayre.
Principal cast:
Isabelle Huppert
Hippolyte Girardot
Farida Ouchani
Liliane Rovère
Rachid Guellaz
Mourad Boudaoud
Country: France/Belgium
Classification: M
Runtime: 104 mins.
Australian release date: 20 May 2021.
France has given the cinema many acclaimed actresses, stars like Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani, but few are as prolific as Isabelle Huppert, who has appeared in some 120 films since her debut in 1971. And then there’s her work for television and the stage. Her latest movie performance is in Jean-Paul Salomé’s The Godmother (French title La Daronne) in which she plays a translator for the police, the sort of woman who is part of the furniture, barely noticed by her colleagues. Huppert is perfect for such a role - her jolie/laide face lends itself to a person who seems dull and dedicated when at work but is transformed into an altogether more glamorous creature when up to her extra-mural shenanigans. We’ve seen her play women who are a little cold or emotionless before but it’s her blossoming into a sunglass-wearing, hijab-clad character in The Godmother that is fresh and exciting.
Patience Portefeux (Huppert) is a poorly paid Arabic interpreter working for the Parisian police, listening to wire-tap conversations and passing their contents on to her boss Philippe (Hippolyte Girardot). She has a daughter at university and her elderly mother (Liliane Rovère) is in an expensive aged-care home that Patience really can’t afford but the staff, particularly Kadidja (Farida Ouchani), look after her well. So, when Patience listens in on a phone conversation about a delivery of Moroccan hash that involves Kadidja’s son, she feels that she has to tell her so that she can warn him. The upshot of this action leads Patience down a whole new path in life and she becomes the Arab-speaking Madame Ben Barka. She retails her illicit wares through a couple of clueless street-dealers, Chocapic (Mourad Boudaoud) and Scotch (Rachid Guellaz) but, due to her background with the police, she’s a lot smarter than they are. She’s also a lot smarter than the crims who want their hash back and the cops who are starting to realise there’s a new game in town.
Huppert is eminently watchable, as she always is, and it’s great to see une femme d’un certain âge playing a role like this; it’s hard to imagine a Hollywood studio film casting a 68-year-old woman in such a part unless, perhaps, it was Meryl Streep. Girardot is also very good as the slightly crumpled detective who’d like his relationship with Patience to be something more than employer/employee. He’s the kind of guy who’s seen it all and finds it hard to believe what seems to be happening under his nose. Supporting roles are all good, albeit somewhat peripheral to Huppert’s star wattage. She recently told journalist Andy Hazel, “I think in terms of encounters with different directors. For me, that is the key piece to the ensemble. Then comes the script, then comes the role.” She obviously felt the desire to make a caper/crime movie like The Godmother because that seems to the oeuvre in which Jean-Paul Salomé specialises. He’s previously made a number of films in that genre and usually has a hand in writing their scripts as well.
The award-winning eponymous novel (La Daronne) on which this film is based was written by Hannelore Cayre, a lawyer in the French criminal justice system, so the film is drawing on real-life, up to a point. It is true, apparently, that police interpreters are badly paid and receive no benefits. They seem to be regarded as gig-economy workers, which goes some way to explaining Patience’s actions. She’s not greedy, just exploited. The screenplay also has a dig at the way the French cops treat different ethnic and immigrant groups. Leaving aside the social commentary, though, The Godmother is a lot of fun - an interesting combination of heist-movie hijinks, black comedy and pathos, with a feminist twist.