Abuse of Weakness

{{Infobox film

| name = Abuse of Weakness

| image = Abus de faiblesse.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| native_name = {{Infobox name module|fr|Abus de faiblesse}}

| director = Catherine Breillat

| screenplay = Catherine Breillat

| based_on = {{Based on|Abuse of Weakness|Catherine Breillat}}

| producer = Jean-François Lepetit

| starring = {{ubl|Isabelle Huppert|Kool Shen}}

| music = Didier Lockwood

| cinematography = Alain Marcoen

| editing = Pascal Chavance

| studio = {{ubl|Flach Film|Iris Films|Arte France Cinéma|CB Films|uMedia}}

| distributor = {{ubl|Rézo Films (France)|Les Films de l'Elysée (Belgium)}}

| released = {{film date|df=yes|2013|9|6|TIFF|2014|2|12|France|2014|3|19|Belgium|2016|12|1|Germany}}

| runtime = 105 minutes

| country = {{ubl|France|Germany|Belgium}}

| language = French

| budget = €4 million{{cite web|url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=13994|title=Abus de faiblesse |work=JP's Box-Office}}

| gross = $171,660{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=abuseofweakness.htm|title=Abuse of Weakness |work=Box Office Mojo}}

}}

Abuse of Weakness ({{langx|fr|Abus de faiblesse}}) is a 2013 semi-autobiographical film written and directed by Catherine Breillat. The film had its world premiere on 6 September 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival.{{cite web |last=van Hoeij |first=Boyd |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/abuse-weakness-abus-de-faiblesse-624715 |title=Abuse of Weakness (Abus de faiblesse): Toronto Review |date=9 September 2013 |access-date=15 July 2014 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}} In the United States, the film was acquired by Strand Releasing and given a release in December 2014.{{cite web|last=Lindsay|first=Taylor|title=Exclusive: Strand Releasing to Distribute Catherine Breillat's Personal Drama 'Abuse of Weakness'|url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/strand-releasing-to-distribute-catherine-breillats-abuse-of-weakness|website=IndieWire|date=21 April 2014|access-date=4 November 2015}}

Plot

Maud Shainberg suffers a cerebral hemorrhage that leaves her paralysed on one half of her body. After a year of intense therapy Maud, a director, begins to work on a new project. After seeing an interview with a con man, Vilko Piran, she immediately asks him to star as the lead in her film, about a lower-class man who falls in love with a famous actress, eventually beating her to death. Vilko accepts but insists that he see Maud as much as possible before filming begins.

Cast

Isabelle Huppert as Maud Schoenberg
Kool Shen as Vilko Piran
Laurence Ursino as Andy
Christophe Sermet as Ezzé
Ronald Leclercq as Gino
Fred Lebelge as TV presenter
Tristan Schotte as Antoine
Daphné Baiwir as Hortense
Dimitri Tomsej as Louis
Nicolas Steil as Louis' father
Jean-François Lepetit as Jean-Paul

Production

In 2007, Breillat met notorious conman Christophe Rocancourt, and offered him a leading role in a film that she was planning to make, based on her own novel Bad Love, and starring Naomi Campbell.{{cite news|last=Secher|first=Benjamin|title=Catherine Breillat: 'All true artists are hated'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3672302/Catherine-BreillatAll-true-artists-are-hated.html|access-date=15 January 2013|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=5 April 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921073327/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3672302/Catherine-BreillatAll-true-artists-are-hated.html|archive-date=21 September 2013}} Soon after, she gave him €25,000 to write a screenplay titled La vie amoureuse de Christophe Rocancourt (The Love Life of Christophe Rocancourt), and over the next year and a half, would give him loans totalling an additional €678,000.{{cite news|last=de Mallevoüe|first=Delphine|title=Christophe Raconcourt sort de prison et prépare un livre|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2012/02/17/01016-20120217ARTFIG00667-huit-mois-de-prison-ferme-pour-rocancourt.php|access-date=15 January 2013|newspaper=Le Figaro|date=18 February 2012|language=fr}} In 2009, a book written by Breillat was published, in which she alleged that Rocancourt had taken advantage of her diminished mental capacity, as she was still recovering from her stroke.{{cite web|last=Groves|first=Don|title=Breillat's new twist on Sleeping Beauty|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/films/blog-articles/120022/breillat-s-new-twist-on-sleeping-beauty|publisher=SBS|access-date=15 January 2013|date=9 August 2010}} The book was entitled Abus de faiblesse, a French legal term usually translated as "abuse of weakness" and was the basis for the movie of the same title.{{cite web|last=Roxo|first=Alexandra|title=A Conversation with Catherine Breillat (THE SLEEPING BEAUTY)|url=http://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/a-conversation-with-catherine-breillat-the-sleeping-beauty/|work=Hammer to Nail|access-date=15 January 2013|date=7 July 2011}}

Reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 85%, based on 34 reviews, with an average score of 6.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Abuse of Weakness{{'-}} fact-based plot proves that truth can be stranger than fiction – and provide grist for compelling character studies."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/abuse_of_weakness|title=Abuse of Weakness (2014)|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=1 December 2019}} At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 77, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/abuse-of-weakness|title=Abuse of Weakness Reviews|website=Metacritic|access-date=1 December 2019}}