It's Grégoire Hetzel's score that is most immediately striking. Defined predominantly by vibrant, stirring themes for piano, there's a heartfelt fullness to the music that almost seems more fitting for a title of more momentous, sweeping drama. Yet the profundity of these chords nevertheless serve to immensely enrich and elevate the very personal drama that 'Un amour impossible' does represent - a tale that only ever becomes more engrossing and impactful as the length progresses. From the outside looking in this movie doesn't necessarily look like much; the premise isn't one I'd usually gravitate towards. I'm so very glad I didn't pass it up, however, because filmmaker Catherine Corsini has given us a picture of tremendous simmering vitality and power. As a matter of comparison this may be a quiet domestic drama, but there's a great underlying strength that makes it just as rewarding for a viewer as one could hope.
I can't claim any familiarity with Christine Angot's novel, but I happily recognize by its adaptation a book that I'd be glad to read to discover what may have been left out when translated to film. I can't easily imagine it's a lot, however, as Corsini and co-writer Laurette Polmanss present to us a screenplay of real, complicated characters, stark dialogue, and scene writing that thrums with undeniable tension and electricity. While 'Un amour impossible' bears a definite sense of progression and passage of time as a narrative, it's the fraught dynamics between Rachel, Philippe, and Chantal that are the true core of the storytelling: the single mother, trying hard and struggling; the father, cruelly selfish, manipulative, and abusive; the daughter, fiercely intelligent and torn between her two parents and what they represent to her. Make no mistake, however, this is all the feature needs to keep us actively engaged and invested, for those relationships, and primarily that between Rachela nd Chantal, are carefully shaped with a mind for only the most terrific potency, and to utmost success.
Corsini's direction is really rather remarkable, striking a delicate balance between a broadly low-key tone, and summoning forth severe charged emotions from the actors; feeling in turn natural, reserved, meticulously attentive, firm, gentle, and hands-off. Then again, all parts work in tandem here, and robust source material and an outstanding screenplay make Corsini's task as director all the easier - as does the utterly superb cast. Virginie Efira I'm most familiar with, and I loved her in Paul Verhoeven's 'Benedetta'; she informs why here with an exquisitely well-rounded performance of controlled nuance and range. Niels Schneider inhabits the role of Philippe with so complete an air of pretense and false charm that he becomes that actor who is easy to hate for how inseparable player and part are. And still the actors who each portray Chantal in turn threaten to upstage even Efira who is mostly centered as a protagonist. Young Sasha Alessandri-Torrès Garcia, stunning Jehnny Beth, and possibly even more so Estelle Lescure bring to vivid life the complex maelstrom of emotions that the daughter goes through over the long time span of the story, and it's genuinely a pleasure as a viewer to see them demonstrate their incredible skill. As if it weren't true before, 'Un amour impossible' aptly shows me that I need to go about finding more movies to watch from all involved.
And by all means, this is splendidly well made in all other regards. Jeanne Lapoirie's cinematography is a soft anchor for the feature; only at select points does it specifically come to one's attention, yet all the while her work is sharp and mindful. The production design and costume design are swell all around. Of all those aspects contributed from behind the scenes, it's actually the hair and makeup artists whose effort lends most substantially to what the writing, direction, and acting otherwise establish. The subtle but unmistakable details that progressively age Efira and Schneider along with their characters add considerably to the verisimilitude of the tableau, and it's safe to say that if the vanity artists weren't so practiced in their craft the title at large likely may have suffered. The end result of all this is a film that's far more absorbing, poignant, satisfying, and indeed fulfilling than I'd have ever assumed sights unseen. There's no singular stroke of genius in these 135 minutes, but the whole consistently and irrevocably draws us in more and more with its tight drama, and the length passes by more quickly than one realizes. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say this is an absolute must-see, but the total excellence the picture represents most assuredly marks it as something that earns my highest, heartiest recommendation for anyone seeking a good drama. 'Un amour impossible' is far richer than the premise first suggests, and it's very much worth checking out if one has the opportunity.
I can't claim any familiarity with Christine Angot's novel, but I happily recognize by its adaptation a book that I'd be glad to read to discover what may have been left out when translated to film. I can't easily imagine it's a lot, however, as Corsini and co-writer Laurette Polmanss present to us a screenplay of real, complicated characters, stark dialogue, and scene writing that thrums with undeniable tension and electricity. While 'Un amour impossible' bears a definite sense of progression and passage of time as a narrative, it's the fraught dynamics between Rachel, Philippe, and Chantal that are the true core of the storytelling: the single mother, trying hard and struggling; the father, cruelly selfish, manipulative, and abusive; the daughter, fiercely intelligent and torn between her two parents and what they represent to her. Make no mistake, however, this is all the feature needs to keep us actively engaged and invested, for those relationships, and primarily that between Rachela nd Chantal, are carefully shaped with a mind for only the most terrific potency, and to utmost success.
Corsini's direction is really rather remarkable, striking a delicate balance between a broadly low-key tone, and summoning forth severe charged emotions from the actors; feeling in turn natural, reserved, meticulously attentive, firm, gentle, and hands-off. Then again, all parts work in tandem here, and robust source material and an outstanding screenplay make Corsini's task as director all the easier - as does the utterly superb cast. Virginie Efira I'm most familiar with, and I loved her in Paul Verhoeven's 'Benedetta'; she informs why here with an exquisitely well-rounded performance of controlled nuance and range. Niels Schneider inhabits the role of Philippe with so complete an air of pretense and false charm that he becomes that actor who is easy to hate for how inseparable player and part are. And still the actors who each portray Chantal in turn threaten to upstage even Efira who is mostly centered as a protagonist. Young Sasha Alessandri-Torrès Garcia, stunning Jehnny Beth, and possibly even more so Estelle Lescure bring to vivid life the complex maelstrom of emotions that the daughter goes through over the long time span of the story, and it's genuinely a pleasure as a viewer to see them demonstrate their incredible skill. As if it weren't true before, 'Un amour impossible' aptly shows me that I need to go about finding more movies to watch from all involved.
And by all means, this is splendidly well made in all other regards. Jeanne Lapoirie's cinematography is a soft anchor for the feature; only at select points does it specifically come to one's attention, yet all the while her work is sharp and mindful. The production design and costume design are swell all around. Of all those aspects contributed from behind the scenes, it's actually the hair and makeup artists whose effort lends most substantially to what the writing, direction, and acting otherwise establish. The subtle but unmistakable details that progressively age Efira and Schneider along with their characters add considerably to the verisimilitude of the tableau, and it's safe to say that if the vanity artists weren't so practiced in their craft the title at large likely may have suffered. The end result of all this is a film that's far more absorbing, poignant, satisfying, and indeed fulfilling than I'd have ever assumed sights unseen. There's no singular stroke of genius in these 135 minutes, but the whole consistently and irrevocably draws us in more and more with its tight drama, and the length passes by more quickly than one realizes. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say this is an absolute must-see, but the total excellence the picture represents most assuredly marks it as something that earns my highest, heartiest recommendation for anyone seeking a good drama. 'Un amour impossible' is far richer than the premise first suggests, and it's very much worth checking out if one has the opportunity.