Let the Sunshine In

I hadn't seen a preview or even read a precis before going, but I generally like French movies, so I went. I didn't know what to make of it -- at the beginning I thought it was a drama, but then the scenes got absurdly exaggerated, and I decided it must be a comedy that the language barrier kept me from finding funny. So I was surprised to learn from the reviews here that it was not a comedy! I still don't know what to make of it. So, my advice is, if you have to pay money to see this and you don't speak fluent French, don't bother (in my case, I have a theater membership that allows me pretty much unlimited movies, so I do tend to take chances).

A rather one-note film about a frustrating character that I probably would have reviewed more harshly had it not starred the luminous Juliette Binoche.

Binoche plays a woman who's fallen into a repetitive cycle of starting up love affairs -- sometimes with the wrong guy, sometimes with someone who might be a right guy -- but then bailing on them because of her own inability to open herself up emotionally. And that's the movie. There's not much of a character arc to her -- the life events that have put herwhere she is have already happened when the movie starts, and she doesn't learn much of anything about herself or her own responsibility in being lonely and miserable that suggests anything is going to change. A generous interpretation of the ending might, I suppose, hint at future happiness, but I chose, cynic that I am, to interpret it instead as yet another desperate attempt made by Binoche's character to find love that requires no effort on her part. Apparently, she thinks she can just wait patiently and it will fall from the sky into her lap.

"Let the Sunshine In" isn't a boring film, but it's not an especially engaging one either. You will have to find Juliette Binoche herself interesting as an actress if you're going to enjoy this film, as it's virtually a one-woman show.

Grade: B

"Let the Sunshine In" (2017 release from France; 94 min.; original title "Un beau soleil intérieur") brings the story of Isabelle. As the movie opens, we see Isabelle, naked, and making love to a guy we later learn is married (but not to Isabelle). Isabelle is enjoying a week of relative freedom as her 10 yr. old daughter is away at her dad's, Isabelle's former husband Francois. Soon we learn that Isabelle is deeply unhappy and restless about where she is in her life, and her love life in particular. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from French writer-director Claire Denis. Here she gets to work with one of France's treasures, actress Juliette Binoche. Binoche carries this movie on her shoulders from start to finish, and along the way exposes herself in ways I can't recall before. And it has to be said: Binoche is not in her mid-50s but she looks at least 10 years younger. The movie is what one could generalize as being a "typical French talkie", in which there is a lot, a LOT, of conversation and not much else. The director had the great sense of letting scenes play out, for minutes on, without interruption, as if we are simply a fly on the wall listening in on strangers talking. And yet, for all that closeness, I couldn't find myself all that emotionally invested in the movie or these characters. Yes, one feels that Binoche is delivering a towering performance but so what? Last but not least, Gerard Depardieu makes an appearance at the very end of the movie, as a fortune teller of some sort.

""Let the Sunshine In" premiered at last year's Cannes film festival, to positive acclaim (mostly for Juliette Binoche's performance). Almost exactly a year later, this movie finally showed up at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Saturday matinee performance where I saw this at was not attended well (4 people, including myself), I honestly can't see this playing in the theater very long. If you are interested in "French talkies" or a character study of a woman struggling with various relationships (think "An Unmarried Woman" or "Starting Over"), I'd suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

The tension between wanting something from someone and the fact that it must be given freely and not asked for is at the heart of this film with its typically brilliant performance from Juliette Binoche. Does Isabelle (Binoche) really know what she wants? It seems to be long-lasting romantic love. She hasn't had a lot of luck in that area, despite being beautiful, charming and successful in her career as an artist. We first see her with an unappealing married man. After a lengthy discussion with him, she seems to give up and moves on to a handsome, much younger actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle). He's also married and undecided about divorcing his wife. A typical dilemma, but for Isabelle it seems to be a pattern. These men are simply not available. Later, at a dance club, Isabelle meets someone who seems quite interested, even if he looks like an aging rock star (the kind who didn't get fat). We soon see the same conflict develop: Isabelle wants something the man cannot give, or not right away anyway. There follows a very brief flirtation with a friend of a friend and Isabelle ends up meeting with a counselor of some kind (Gérard Depardieu) who seems to tell her that her life has simply gone as it should...most enigmatically, that she will meet a man who understands and connects with her, but he too will not be "the one". The counselor says that Isabelle must become aware of her "beautiful inner sun" and be content with herself as she is.

In some ways this recent work of Claire Denis can remind a viewer of a film of Eric Rohmer, LE BEAU MARIAGE in particular. Endless discussion about what the protagonist wants. Simply wanting something from someone is not enough to make it happen. But the cinematic style of Claire Denis is miles away from Rohmer's. The editing alone puts UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR firmly in the art film category. Editing and narrative technique, mainly carried out through one-on-one conversation are sometimes elliptical and leave a viewer to decide what has happened. There is also an odd 'nature walk' with strangers who have a lot to say about seemingly nothing, causing Isabelle to go mad for a moment. Perhaps this is to show the extent of her frustration with life and with people in general. Denis chooses to end the film with the counselor scene: a long sequence composed mainly of close-ups of Depardieur while the final credits run, superimposed over the actors' faces.

An often funny film, very compelling thanks to Binoche's exasperating yet amiable characterization.

Good actors with great casting, Paris as the backdrop, but the story is a complete dud. This was a total disaster as far as the writing, a failure both in the story as well as the insipid dialogue.

Being, more or less, in the age bracket of Benoche and her character, I find it a bit ridiculous that she stagnates in an adolescent passive-aggressive attitude with men. Say what you mean and mean what you say, someone once said. If you want someone, at this age you can't waste a lot of time being coy or clever.

Just what she saw in the banker is beyond my ability to read what women want. Physically unattractive, arrogant and abusive with the bartender, and dismissive of her feelings point to the fact that what? She's with him for his money?

I'm not saying that people my age can't find "true love" but I think we have to be rational adults while looking for it. The scene in the car and then in her apartment were both so incredibly awkward, worse than anything I suffered in my teens. Grow up! I hated both of those scenes. Thoroughly unromantic.

And then they manage to somehow shoe-horn in a dialogue with Gerard Depardieu?

I was forced to watch the film with inadequate English subtitles that didn't begin to translate the true sense of the French original dialogue, but my French isn't quite good enough to watch it without subtitles. I can never find French films with French subtitles which is the perfect combination for me. People learning English as a second language never have a problem finding English subtitles for English films and TV shows, so stop being so smug about the fact that you speak English.