Une femme d'extérieur

Agnes Jaoui is one of the best actresses ever in French cinema. Here she starts as a bourgeois suburban wife near Lyon, who suddenly discovers her husband is cheating on her. She leaves him and starts a new life, discovering the night life of Lyon, meeting people, drinking, and progressively abandoning all her former values and boundaries, carrying her children along, neglecting her work.

The movie has really the structure of a dream in which the main character plunges relentlessly into a slight madness, till she finds the bottom and reconstructs her personality, she becomes strong.

This film shows Lyon and its different lifestyles as seldom seen. All the actors are excellent. A deep sadness emanates from it, but it is a very noteworthy movie, breaking from the worn out social movies or young Parisians movies that abound in French cinema.

Une femme d'extérieur casts Agnès Jaoui as its main and central character. She plays a nurse, Françoise, whose life is turned upside down once she discovers her husband is having an affair. The discovery prompts her to reassess not only her marriage but also and more importantly her whole way of being. The husband is chucked out and she realizes she's not really the worse for it. The film then follows her through the many changes she goes through as the people that thought they knew her (former husband, kids, colleagues) watch on in disbelief. All the characters are likeable and true to life. The acting is first rate and yet the film is not entirely satisfactory. Some bits are well paced and others are overly drawn out. The movie could have done with some further editing. All in all, the film is quite enjoyable and certainly avoids the mannerisms that so many French movies are prone to.

i enjoyed this movie very much, both for its acting depth & its dramatization. however, some scences were edited too quickly & not developed. what i am confused about is the absolute ending! if the movie had ended with the main character looking at the countryside as the pickup truck drives away, one may conclude a certain awakening from her spiral. however, the last scene shows agnes @ a cosmetic table? in her bedroom? partially dressed? looking at who? a very unsatisfying ending to a beautifully told movie & one that clearly tells a very moving story that only the french appear able to do!!!