The first feature film by actress-turned-director Laure Marsac, 'Le quatrième morceau de la femme coupée en trois' ("The Fourth Piece of a Woman Cut in Three") is divided, as the title suggests, into three parts. Each of the sections give the first-time director a different subject, theme and treatment to work with and demonstrate her ability. The first section shows Louise (Laure Marsac) learning to drive with a particularly grouchy driving instructor (Denis Podalydès). The second piece shows her having passed her test getting stuck in the car park of an out-of-town shopping centre. Evoked by her experiences of wanting to drive, the third part of the film is a memory of a significant car journey she undertook with her mother as a young child.
As the title also suggests, the connections between each of the three sections of the film give light to a fourth part, an unspoken element never made explicit, that suggests complex reasons for Louise's desire to drive and be independent. Marsac manages to evoke memories and sentiments as a strong, formative influence through light, music and contemplation in a manner that recalls Sofia Coppola's expert working with mood in 'The Virgin Suicides' and succeeds in elevating the film from the mundanity of its seemingly commonplace situations.
As well as demonstrating strong technical, structural and writing skills as a first-time director, Marsac also shows that, like Eric Rohmer, she is capable of drawing subtle resonances from the mundane and the ordinary aspects of life from a uniquely female perspective (the director refers to this accordingly as the "perfume" of the film). The sentiments evoked by 'Le quatrième morceau de la femme coupée en trois' are certainly minor, but expertly achieved, they show no small amount of talent.
