A Woman's Life (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = A Woman's Life

| image = A Woman's Life.png

| caption = Film poster

| director = Stéphane Brizé

| producer = Miléna Poylo
Gilles Sacuto

| writer = Stéphane Brizé
Florence Vignon

| based_on = {{based on|Une vie|Guy de Maupassant}}

| starring = Judith Chemla
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Yolande Moreau

| music =

| cinematography = Antoine Héberlé

| editing = Anne Klotz

| distributor = Diaphana Films (France)
O'Brother Distribution (Belgium)

| studio = TS Productions
France 3 Cinéma
Canal+

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2016|9|6|Venice|2016|11|23|France}}

| runtime = 119 minutes

| country = France
Belgium

| language = French

| budget = $8.2 million

| gross = $880.000{{cite web |title=A Woman's Life |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=awomanslife.htm |website=Box Office Mojo |accessdate=20 January 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805060607/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=awomanslife.htm |archivedate=5 August 2017}}

}}

A Woman's Life ({{langx|fr|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.{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2016/07/venice-film-festival-2016-lineup-full-list-1201794095/ |title=Venice Film Festival 2016|date=28 July 2016 |work=Deadline |accessdate=28 July 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://cineuropa.org/nw.aspx?t=newsdetail&l=en&did=315289|title=A Woman's Life wins Venice's FIPRESCI Award |work=Cineuropa}} It was awarded the Louis Delluc Prize for Best Film in 2016.{{cite web |url=http://www.france24.com/fr/20161214-cinema-prix-delluc-une-vie-stephane-brize-maupassant-gorge-coeur-ventre-premier-film|title=Cinéma : le prix Louis Delluc décerné à "Une vie" de Stéphane Brizé |work=France 24}}

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".[https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/315136/ A Woman's Life, so good yet so bad by Camillo De Marco, Cineuropa website, 2016] accessed 20 December 2023

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.{{cite web|url=http://destinationcine.com/a-decouvrir/demarrage-du-tournage-de-une-vie-de-stephane-brize/|title=Démarrage du tournage de "Une Vie" de Stéphane Brizé|work=Destination ciné|accessdate=2 September 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ouest-france.fr/tournage-autour-de-pont-leveque-des-comediens-recherches-en-normandie-3403765|title=Casting. Envie de tourner avec Yolande Moreau et JP Daroussin ?|work=Ouest-France.fr|accessdate=2 September 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.