Things to Come

Isabelle Huppert shines in this intellectual character study from Mia Hansen-Love

thingstocomeposterMany movies can barely muster one thought provoking central question to guide their characters. Mia Hansen-Love’s “Things to Come” is full of them: “Can truth be debated?” “Can we put ourselves in the place of the other?” “A government so perfect is not suited to men.”

And yet “Things to Come” crosses over into being too academic once we’re introduced to the “anarchists” who commune in the mountains, talk about philosophy and do seemingly nothing. “Things to Come” may be touching and thoughtful as a character study, but it’s too talkative and introspective to be profoundly memorable.

At the very least though, Isabelle Huppert as philosophy teacher Nathalie grants “Things to Come” warmth and wisdom alike. Her character may hide behind her intellect, but it’s Huppert’s poise to withhold her emotions and make her authority known in front of her students that makes the performance great and Nathalie wonderful.

And she’s forced to soldier on through a lot. At first her book on philosophy will not be renewed for a new edition. Then it’s the death of her mother and a split from her husband that send her in pursuit of companionship and solace from a handsome former student.

While many will admire “Things to Come’s” intelligence, many more will appreciate it’s simpler charms, like a nuisance of a cat named Pandora, a name that simply invites trouble. Perhaps most profound of all is how that stupid animal, as much as it wanders and vanishes, will be the most consistent part of Nathalie’s life as she aims to reinvent herself.

In that way, “Things to Come” will make you ponder your own values and philosophies before reminding you there’s more to life than just those philosophy.

3 stars

Amour

Michael Haneke’s “Amour” is a film that requires no sentiment or tears shed on its behalf. That’s because for films about mortality, few are as quiet, observant, simple and without incident as “Amour.” And yet Haneke, known for his solemn, chilling art films like “Cache” and “The White Ribbon,” has made a bleak masterpiece that does away with big, philosophical ideas and focuses in on the beautiful love story at its core.

“Your concern is no use to me.” That’s Georges’s (Jean-Louis Trintignant) message to his daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert) as his wife Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) lies on her deathbed. What use does it serve, he asks his daughter, for Eva to worry when her only solutions are more unsuccessful surgeries, more time under life support in a nursing home and more pain?

Haneke’s film skillfully observes that death is a part of life, but it’s the general agony that disturbs the most, not the absence of transparency into this woman’s suffering, and not the lack of drama. “Amour” is a love story, one about the sheer burden of keeping a love or marriage together, but it’s a far stretch from the sappy tearjerkers of the world. This art film unsympathetically challenges this romance and remains a distant observer to their tireless passion. Continue reading “Amour”