THE TRUTH
****
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Screenwriter: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Principal cast:
Catherine Deneuve
Juliette Binoche
Ethan Hawke
Clémentine Grenier
Manon Clavel
Alain Libolt
Country: France/Japan
Classification: PG
Runtime: 107 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2019
Previewed at: Palace Central, Sydney, on 4 December 2019.
“I’d prefer to be a bad mother and a bad friend rather than a bad actress,” declares Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) at a certain point in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth. She’s the ne plus ultra star of French cinema, the uncontested queen of the Gallic screen, and she’s never given a lot of time or thought to anyone else, including her only daughter, Lumir. A telling scene with an awe-struck journalist at the start of the film reveals just how prickly, vain and cruel she can be. When Lumir (Juliette Binoche), her American husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their child Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) arrive mid-interview, fresh off the plane from New York, she says to her interrogator, “It’s nothing. My daughter and her little family.” To Fabienne, we are all “little” people.
Lumir has come to Paris because her mother is about to publish her memoirs and she wants to be there for the occasion, ostensibly to congratulate her mum but really because she’s dying to see what has been written about their relationship. Lumir’s memory of growing up with Fabienne is that she was often absent, and detached when she was present, and that her mother’s great screen rival Sarah Mondavan was closer to the little girl. It goes without saying that none of this is in the biography; au contraire, Fabienne tells a story of a loving, close relationship with her daughter. When confronted with this fact, and other exaggerations and false claims she’s made, she coolly states that, “You can’t trust memory” and expects Lumir to get over it. The sudden departure of her ever-reliable assistant, however, forces mother and daughter into a tense working relationship and this compels them to confront long supressed issues and emotions that have remained hidden all their lives. The ensuing drama teaches both of them things they didn’t previously know about each other.
The Truth is not dissimilar thematically to Julie Bertuccelli’s Claire Darling, which also dealt with the relationship between a mother and her estranged daughter and starred Deneuve as la mère (the actress’s real-life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, played opposite her), which was released earlier this year. This work, though, has been bubbling away in Kore-eda’s mind for many years. It’s the first film the director has made outside of Japan and he originally wanted its star to be a Japanese actress but couldn’t find anyone with the right longevity and standing for the role. When Binoche suggested that they work together, he went back to his script and adapted it with Deneuve in mind. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that, “In France, I knew there was somebody that could embody cinema history, the history of her country, that she would be perfect. It was possible to make the movie just because she exists.”
Ultimately, The Truth asks, in Kore-eda’s words, “What makes a family a family? Truth or lies? And how would you choose between a cruel truth and a kind lie? These are the questions I never stopped asking myself throughout the making of this film. I hope everyone who sees it will take the opportunity to find his or her own answers.” These are questions he has often confronted before, particularly in Shoplifters. In this film he’s added further complexity to these ideas and they couldn’t be more germane in a post-truth world - but don’t let that worry you. It’s not a treatise; it’s an amusing, witty and sophisticated, always entertaining comedy drama and a masterclass in superb acting. One of the best films of the holiday season.
Screenwriter: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Principal cast:
Catherine Deneuve
Juliette Binoche
Ethan Hawke
Clémentine Grenier
Manon Clavel
Alain Libolt
Country: France/Japan
Classification: PG
Runtime: 107 mins.
Australian release date: 26 December 2019
Previewed at: Palace Central, Sydney, on 4 December 2019.
“I’d prefer to be a bad mother and a bad friend rather than a bad actress,” declares Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) at a certain point in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth. She’s the ne plus ultra star of French cinema, the uncontested queen of the Gallic screen, and she’s never given a lot of time or thought to anyone else, including her only daughter, Lumir. A telling scene with an awe-struck journalist at the start of the film reveals just how prickly, vain and cruel she can be. When Lumir (Juliette Binoche), her American husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their child Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) arrive mid-interview, fresh off the plane from New York, she says to her interrogator, “It’s nothing. My daughter and her little family.” To Fabienne, we are all “little” people.
Lumir has come to Paris because her mother is about to publish her memoirs and she wants to be there for the occasion, ostensibly to congratulate her mum but really because she’s dying to see what has been written about their relationship. Lumir’s memory of growing up with Fabienne is that she was often absent, and detached when she was present, and that her mother’s great screen rival Sarah Mondavan was closer to the little girl. It goes without saying that none of this is in the biography; au contraire, Fabienne tells a story of a loving, close relationship with her daughter. When confronted with this fact, and other exaggerations and false claims she’s made, she coolly states that, “You can’t trust memory” and expects Lumir to get over it. The sudden departure of her ever-reliable assistant, however, forces mother and daughter into a tense working relationship and this compels them to confront long supressed issues and emotions that have remained hidden all their lives. The ensuing drama teaches both of them things they didn’t previously know about each other.
The Truth is not dissimilar thematically to Julie Bertuccelli’s Claire Darling, which also dealt with the relationship between a mother and her estranged daughter and starred Deneuve as la mère (the actress’s real-life daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, played opposite her), which was released earlier this year. This work, though, has been bubbling away in Kore-eda’s mind for many years. It’s the first film the director has made outside of Japan and he originally wanted its star to be a Japanese actress but couldn’t find anyone with the right longevity and standing for the role. When Binoche suggested that they work together, he went back to his script and adapted it with Deneuve in mind. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that, “In France, I knew there was somebody that could embody cinema history, the history of her country, that she would be perfect. It was possible to make the movie just because she exists.”
Ultimately, The Truth asks, in Kore-eda’s words, “What makes a family a family? Truth or lies? And how would you choose between a cruel truth and a kind lie? These are the questions I never stopped asking myself throughout the making of this film. I hope everyone who sees it will take the opportunity to find his or her own answers.” These are questions he has often confronted before, particularly in Shoplifters. In this film he’s added further complexity to these ideas and they couldn’t be more germane in a post-truth world - but don’t let that worry you. It’s not a treatise; it’s an amusing, witty and sophisticated, always entertaining comedy drama and a masterclass in superb acting. One of the best films of the holiday season.