‘A Woman’s Life’ Review: Léa Drucker Shines In Compelling Portrait Of A Doctor Who Saves Lives While Trying To Keep Her Own Intact – Cannes Film Festival
Premiering in competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival is one of this year’s French entries, and this new film from Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, one of several female directors in this year’s lineup, is a strong portrait of the many facets of one woman’s life — which may well be why that has become the English title of the original French La Vie D’Une Femme. We get snapshots of a busy life unfolding as this woman faces some key changing moments that will define herself, professionally and personally. Bottom line: it is refreshing to see a fiftysomething female character presented in such a fashion — sexually and otherwise — on screen these days, even if it may only be a very French thing to do.
Plotwise, Gabrielle (Léa Drucker) is a 55-year-old professional, a surgeon and head of her hospital department whose career has her stretched to the limit. This takes a toll on every aspect of her life. Her husband Henri (Charles Berling) feels neglected. She never had kids and instead poured all that energy into her profession. Her recently widowed mother (Marie-Christine Barrault) is now showing major signs of dementia and she must take on new responsibility for her. And on top of all this she is being followed at work by an author, Frida (Melanie Thierry), who is doing research for a new book and who finds herself attracted to Gabrielle. Life is complicated.
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