Se souvenir des belles choses

This is, no contest, one of the finest movies to come out of France in the last five years and it would have been a grave miscarriage of justice if Isabelle Carre had not won a Best Actress Cesar for this role. I had seen Carre in several movies and found her competent but nothing special then, all at once the right career-defining role turns up and she shows what she can do. I can pay her no higher compliment than to compare her performance here to that of namesake Isabelle Huppert (the finest French actress bar none) in 'La Dentelliere' (The Lacemaker) with the proviso that Huppert was approximately 10 years younger than Carre when turning in her prize-winning performance. Carre is luminous and for virtually the whole of the running time she gives the impression of a real victim of Alzheimer's so that we feel we are watching a documentary rather than a film that has been scripted, shot and acted. The actors throughout are first rate, not least Bernand Campan as Carre's lover and protector. I saw the movie in an art-house in Balard last year (it's still playing there albeit only one or two screenings per week) and in September of this year I found it on DVD and can play it whenever I like. Out of ten stars it has to rate fifteen. One word description? Can't be done. Lyrical? In spades. Enthralling? And the rest. Magnifique? Doesn't come close. Thank you, Isabelle, Zabou, Campan, thank you for some unforgettable memories.