The Separation

Any person who has seen and loved Un coeur en hiver (The Heart in Winter) should see this film as well - it also stars the melancholic Daniel Auteuil. It's almost painful to see him laugh. A film that contrasts the bitterness of betrayal with the sweetness of intimacy, La Séparation delves into the anatomy of a break-up - the growing coolness, lack of concern, estrangement that can exist between two people who still are the primary characters in one another's stories. The couple is not married, but have a home, son, and life in common. Even as they discuss the thing that has come between them, the two cuddle; indeed, were the dialogue silenced for a moment or two, it would be easy to believe they were comforting each other. And indeed, they attempt to soothe each other even as they seem to rend their relationship beyond reconciliation. There is a great reluctance to separate, but is this because of love, comfort, or the fear of starting over? See this movie alone, and don't plan to go dancing afterwards. Buy a bottle of red wine on the way home from the theater (if you are fortunate enough to see it in one).

This disturbing film directed by Christian Vincent has one of Daniel Auteuil's best and most versatile performances. His 'partner', played with icy intensity by Isabelle Huppert, not only has a sadistic streak, but is wholly self-absorbed. She eyes Auteuil as he suffers because of her callous infidelity with the detachment of an abortionist crushing the head of an infant who has dared to scream after supposedly being 'disposed of' from the womb. Auteuil is at his wits' end, raging, cursing, hugging her, crying, discussing it helplessly with his friends, and the eye at the centre of the storm is the imperturbable Huppert, whose glassy stare and frozen visage are as relentless as a harpy. One puzzle: why does Auteuil go around unshaven all the time looking like a vagabond? So does his best friend. Is this chic? Looks a mess to me! Maybe Huppert has given up on trying to persuade him to shave and hates having her face scratched? Although she is the kind of character who would have pulled the wings off flies as a child, Auteuil's charm does not wholly compensate for his defiantly scruffy appearance, and as a tidy gal, that must get up her nose. This gut-wrenching story of the destruction of a relationship is from a novel, and with a screenplay by the author Dan Franck, who wrote the brilliant 1998 book 'Bohemes' ('Bohemian Paris', Grove Press, New York, 2001), perhaps the best survey of the Montmartre and Montparnasse days ever written. Let's hope it is not autobiographical, as if so, he must still be suffering. However, the detail is so precise, I fear it might all be true. There is a fine performance also by Laurent Lerel, as an au pair girl who loves Autueil from afar, and wishes to comfort him in his distress, but he never notices her. What a sad, sad tale.

La Separation makes you realize the value of true acting ability. Danilel Auteuil & Isabelle Huppert give a masterclass. I never thought that I'd be glad Juliette Binoche didn't turn up for work. The story has all the makings of a soap opera, but the thing that lifts this film is the simply marvelous acting. In other hands I think this movie would slip quietly onto the French equivalent of the Lifetime channel. There are no silences. In this movie one look speaks a thousand words. I struggle to think of any other movie where I have been so entranced by the pure acting of the male and female leads. More emotionally draining than Casablanca. This is a real weepy. Why? Because the acting makes you live the pain.

This is a carefully crafted study of the break-up of a marriage. The subtle and powerful performances of Daniel Auteuil and Isabelle Huppert as the couple in question, and Vincent's well-paced direction of a good quality script, deliver a film that does not fall into the usual cliches of this genre.

Well worth seeing.

The aptly titled film "The Separation" scrutinizes the disintegration of the relationship between a couple (Huppert & Auteuil). That's it...no more, no less. Superbly acted by two of France's finest at the top of their game, the film has little going for it making it a fringe watch for foreign or French cinema buffs. Not recommended for general consumption. (B-)