The acting is largely irreproachable, but the direction is leaden, and the movie just can’t overcome its clunky framing device and nagging air of inauthenticity.
For a Woman(Pour une femme)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France · 2013
1h 50m
Director Diane Kurys
Starring Benoît Magimel, Mélanie Thierry, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Sylvie Testud
Genre Drama
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After the death of her mother, Anne makes a shocking discovery: an old photograph that casts doubt on her family origins. As she lifts the lid on a long-forgotten family secret, Anne learns that her mother once succumbed to an amorous passion that was as intense as it was short-lived...
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What are critics saying?
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
For a Woman, Diane Kurys' semi-autobiographical film, benefits greatly from its intimate nature, in which a woman discovers secrets from her family's past.
Visually, Kurys offers a mostly conventional, period-handsome widescreen style, which suits her capable actors just fine. The real drawback, though, is the spoon-feeding frame narrative, which takes away from the urgency.
RogerEbert.com by Peter Sobczynski
The end result is itself not especially intriguing.
The New York Times by Rachel Saltz
The 1980s sequences, with their tears and epiphanies, are less vivid and less convincing. An inviting sense of mystery hangs over the events of 1947, Ms. Kurys’s origin story.
Los Angeles Times by Robert Abele
There's storytelling vigor here and fine performances, plus some pointed exchanges about the burdens of cultural identity and emotional preservation in the aftermath of immense upheaval.
The striking Thierry brings her character to nuanced life on screen.
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