Genevieve Bujold looks marvelous in the inscrutable "Isabel"; she's like a sprite or a princess waif. Playing a 20-year-old from Montreal who returns to her childhood farm on the Gaspé coast for her mother's funeral, Bujold's Isabel reconnects with what remains of her relatives but is intrigued by a handsome young man who resembles her long-deceased brother. Drama from writer-producer-director Paul Almond (Bujold's then-husband) has melancholy atmospherics to spare and unsettling bursts of sound. The film begins with a flurry of jagged past-and-future edits which, I assume, are supposed to represent Isabel's jumbled thoughts--but nowhere else in the film are the edits this quick. Once Isabel reaches her destination, the pace slows way down. One tends to lose faith early in Almond and the picture (I came to the conclusion several times during the movie that the filmmaker didn't really know what he was doing); however, interest in Bujold and her Isabel never wavers. There's a creeping sense of dread, coupled with Bujold's maybe/maybe not hallucinations plus a looming secret about Isabel's parentage, which grips the viewer, but only for awhile. Almond fails to come up with a strong final act, allowing the film to just dribble away. Georges Dufaux's cinematography is vivid and the supporting performances are casual and relaxed. Bujold's lightly offhand manner is appealing, and her elfin face (accentuated with high fashion makeup) is endlessly fascinating. ** from ****
Review of Isabel
