Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 257: Sun Sep 18

Story of Women (Chabrol, 1988): Cine Lumiere, 2pm


This 4K restoration, also screening on September 20th, is part of the Isabelle Huppert season at Cine Lumiere. Full details here.
The screening on 18 September will be preceded by an introduction from Professor Catherine Dousteyssier-Khoze (Durham University).

Chicago Reader review:
A bit mislabeled—the French title is Une Affaire de Femmes, which translates better as “Women’s Business”—Claude Chabrol’s accomplished and generally uncharacteristic period film (1988), loosely adapted from a nonfiction book by lawyer Francis Szpiner, gives a plausible and wholly unsentimental account of a housewife and mother in occupied France (Isabelle Huppert at her finest) who becomes an abortionist and is sent to the guillotine for it. Married to a French soldier (Francois Cluzet) who’s in a POW camp, she doesn’t want to sleep with him after his return; she soon becomes the family breadwinner—a tough survivor who’s also helping other women out. Chabrol’s mise en scene and his handling of the period and performances are masterful.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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