Alexandra Leclère has made a wonderful first feature; I was entertained throughout this funny and sometimes bitter film about a provincial, somewhat naive and emotionally open woman (Catherine Frot) who visits her older sister (Huppert) who lives with her husband and son in Paris. Martine can't stand Louise's gaucheness, her forgetfulness (forgetting her wallet at home before visiting a dress shop) and the way Louise has of opening her heart to strangers. The dinner party at Martine's flat is wonderful: Louise is telling the guests of her past love, while Martine gets drunker and more aggressive every minute. The last laugh is on Martine, of course: her husband has been having an affair with her old friend Sophie.
I have had harsh things to say about Isabelle Huppert in the past, but here she is wonderful. She plays the frantic jealousy of her character to perfection: there is a scene (shocking, violent) when Martine reads the letter from their mother to Louise, in which the mother rejects her daughters, saying she does not want to see or hear from them again. The triumphal anger of Martine and the distress of Louise are palpable.
I have had harsh things to say about Isabelle Huppert in the past, but here she is wonderful. She plays the frantic jealousy of her character to perfection: there is a scene (shocking, violent) when Martine reads the letter from their mother to Louise, in which the mother rejects her daughters, saying she does not want to see or hear from them again. The triumphal anger of Martine and the distress of Louise are palpable.