A Woman's Life (film)

A Woman's Life (Une vie) is a 2016 French-Belgian drama film directed by Stéphane Brizé. It is based on the Guy de Maupassant's novel Une vie about a sensitive woman forced to face the harshness of the world.

It was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film in competition. It was awarded the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film in 2016.

The film is described as "the delicate story of a life of candid emotions and searing disappointments", which presents the novel "in a series of bright flashbacks and gloomy flashforwards". Using a hand-held camera, Brizé frames "the heroine, played by a magnificent Judith Chemla... in 4:3 format (also known as 1.33:1), imprisoning her in a tormented existence".

Cast

 * Judith Chemla as Jeanne du Perthuis des Vauds
 * Jean-Pierre Darroussin as Simon-Jacques Le Perthuis des Vauds
 * Yolande Moreau as Adélaïde Le Perthuis des Vauds
 * Swann Arlaud as Julien de Lamare
 * Nina Meurisse as Rosalie
 * Finnegan Oldfield as Paul de Lamare
 * Clotilde Hesme as Gilberte de Fourville
 * Alain Beigel as Georges de Fourville
 * Olivier Perrier as Picot
 * François-Xavier Ledoux as Tolbiac
 * Lucette Beudin as Ludivine
 * Sarah Durand as Françoise
 * Marc Olry as Ferdinant de Vauvert
 * Lise Lamétrie as Cousin Rose

Synopsis
Normandy, 1819. Baron Simone-Jacques Le Perthuis and his wife Adelaide have one child, Jeanne, whose friend is their servant Rosalie, the same age as her. After meeting the Vicomte Julien de Lamare she falls in love with him and soon weds. But Jeanne discovers that he has been unfaithful, with Rosalie, who, pregnant by him, is dismissed. Although Jeanne forgives Julien he continues to philander, this time with a neighbour Gilberte de Fourville. Jeanne tries with the local priest to find a way out of her misery. When Julien is shot by Gilberte's husband Jeanne's son Paul, in poor health is educated at home before being sent away aged 12 to boarding school. Paul later falls in love with a prostitute, runs up huge debts, and still feckless runs off to London, regularly writing to ask his mother for money but not visiting her. At 42, Jeanne is alone except for Rosalie, who has come back to help her childhood friend. The last line of the film (and the book) is "Life, you see, is never as good or as bad as one thinks”.

Production
The film was shot in Normandy. It started 24 August 2015.

In his first film work, the harpsichordist Olivier Baumont provides the soundtrack, playing his own score on the pianoforte, while also including themes from works by Jacques Duphly.