Movie Review: Let the Sunshine In

Let the Sunshine In **** / *****

Directed by: Claire Denis.

Written by: Christine Angot & Claire Denis based on the book by Roland Barthes.

Starring: Juliette Binoche (Isabelle), Xavier Beauvois (Vincent), Philippe Katerine (Mathieu), Josiane Balasko (Maxime), Sandrine Dumas (Ariane), Nicolas Duvauchelle (L'acteur), Alex Descas (Marc), Laurent Grévill (François), Bruno Podalydès (Fabrice), Paul Blain (Sylvain), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (La femme dans la voiture), Gérard Depardieu (Denis, le voyant).

 

The best scene in Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In is the first one – an intriguingly film sex scene, between two middle aged characters, which by itself marks itself as unusual in films. Film is close-up, the scene between the beautiful Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) and her overweight lover Vincent (Xavier Beauvois) is an odd one as it takes in part of their bodies at a time, and has the pair of them obsessing over the other one finishing. The intrigue lasts longer than the sex does, as there is some kind of undeniable sexual chemistry and tension between these two characters, even as it becomes increasingly clear they aren’t right for each other, and in fact she may not even like him all that much. As the opening scenes play on, it becomes clear their relationship is doomed – if for no other reason than the casual cruelty in which he sometimes treats her (“I will never leave my wife. I like you, but my wife is extraordinary” he tells her). He is a wealthy banker, used to getting what he wants – when he shows up at her apartment one night and says “I just arrived from Brazil and felt like fucking you” he seems genuinely surprised when she throws him out. And this is just the first of several men Isabelle will be with over the course of the film – all of whom are whiny and needy and disappointing, but in different ways. Undeterred, she keeps trying to find love – and along the way, she continues to have sex – although after that first sex scene, we don’t see another one.

 

You can imagine this film made in Hollywood – there have been any number of them over the years, about middle aged women who get divorced, and then go on a journey of self-discovery, which often involves them travelling to exotic locales, and falling in love with some hunky, personality free man. But because this film is directed by the great French filmmaker Claire Denis, we know this isn’t going to be the case with this film. The film is mainly made up of two kinds of scenes – the first, when Isabelle first meets a new man, and is instantly drawn to him, and then a flash forward – to the next day, the next week, the next month, whenever, when everything falls apart. The banker is an asshole using her, although he allows herself to be used, the actor wanted an emotional sounding board more than anything else (and is, of course, married), an artist may be using her, as she is a more successful artist, to advance his career. There are other flirtations, and almost connections, that don’t go very well either. The film ends, not in either disappointment, or reverie, but with a scene between Binoche and Gerard Depardieu – who we have just witnessed being his own version of a disappointing man to another woman (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), that at least seems to indicate Isabelle is going to keep on pressing forward.

 

If the film had continued to be as good as that opening scene, it would be one of the very best films of the year. It doesn’t, but in a way, I think what is captured in that opening would both be impossible to keep going at feature length, and not advisable. It’s there, in its way, to get the audience off-kilter from what they expected – perhaps what they were marketed (the poster, featuring a smiling Binoche, and the misleading English title, don’t tell you a thing about the film). The film, was directed by a middle aged woman, who co-wrote it with another middle aged woman, and stars a middle aged woman – and is a film about how middle aged women are so rarely seen, acknowledged, or treated like real people – either in the movies, or in life. The film may sound like it is dark, but it isn’t – not really. There are at least fleeting moments of joy on display in the film, and some of the darker moments are just mentioned, not dwelled upon. We never see, for example, Isabelle’s 12-year-old daughter, who apparently reports back to her dad that mom cries herself to sleep every night. This isn’t a movie about a woman juggling parenthood with a career with trying to find love. It’s more about the disappointment of trying to connect, and failing, and yet you keep on going.

 

On the surface, this seems like an odd choice of Denis – especially after her last film, Bastards, was a dark noir that featured rape and torture, and has often made more ambitious, more inscrutable films that Let the Sunshine In. Here though, she takes the same care telling this story, and gets the same level of performance out of Binoche as anyone else has. It takes a clichéd story, but treats it with seriousness. It may seem like minor Denis – heck, it may even be minor Denis, but it’s further proof that she can do just about anything.