Madame Hyde

Even the extraordinary Isabelle Huppert could not save this dog from the pound. What on earth compelled her to agree to do such a bad picture. Mind boggling!

The movie, Mrs. Hyde, is inspired by the well-known novel "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The doctor is replaced here by a teacher of sciences confronted to problematic pupils. After a lightning she changes gradually her behaviour and starts transforming at night.

This is an indie movie in a very European style. This being said, it is not surprising that people who are not used to this genre feel a bit lost, and do not expect to like it if you are in that situation. This means that it is quirky compared to a more mainstream cinema, and it uses ellipsis, letting many things implicit.

The picture is also quite typical of the genre but this movie has its own personality when it comes to the colours. In that, you can see it as a less aggressive version of Amélie, with shadings of pastel blue.

As an indie movie it does quite well, but nothing exceptional either. The actors are doing very well but the rhythm is unequal.

There are already plenty of French movies about high schools in disadvantaged French suburbs, with very expected happy endings. This movie takes some distance from that as it carries on its "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"-kind story. Thanks to this distance we also appreciate better the development of the pupils. The very sudden turn in the pupil's behaviour still looks kind of artificial.

1. Representation of how a school is administered including teacher or student evaluations was incorrect. 2. Lecture vs. lab time for high school physics poorly if not mostly incorrect. 3. Teacher conduct was make believe. Acting was weird as if the writers, actor and director had never been in a school. 4. Student behavior maybe 30% correct. 5. Our electrified teacher was nonsense, and when shown contributed little to our storyline fantasy.

To be totally honest, what I like most about Mrs. Hyde is that she's independent, inscrutable, and a little rough around the edges.

Mrs. Hyde (Madame Hyde in the original French) is a scientific indie parable about a beleaguered high school physics teacher (Mrs. Géquil, which, strangely enough, sounds a lot like the French pronunciation of 'Jekyll') of children in difficulty. On the night of a red moon, she's working in her lab and a lightning strike passes through her equipment (she's doing experiments on body heat and electricity) and into her. This electroshock transforms her into a better teacher during the day and a strange, burning red moon creature in the evening.

If this film had been a polished, studio release, it would have been a shocking waste. But as it's an indie filmed backed by a surprisingly a-list cast (Isabelle Huppert, Romain Duris, José Garcia...), the look and feel of the film is reminiscent of Michel Gondry's La Science des Rêves.

This is a film that won't be liked by many, but those who appreciate quirky, weird, tongue-in-cheek independent modern fables with offbeat humour will find something to enjoy here. Mrs. Hyde is an uncomfortable experience, but not an unpleasant one.

The only thing worse than sci-fi is sci-fi done badly. Isabelle gets some glow-in-the dark powers. When her inner light comes on she can kill a school kid, or she can just sit on a bench outside her home and stare at the moon. Whatever. There is a lack of continuity and understanding here. It's as if the filmmakers want you to guess what just happened knowing you'll never figure it out. Nevah! In short order, why does she only care about one student (the guy Malik) and none of the others? They are all behaving like animals, but Malik is the object of her attention. Everyone else is chopped liver. What causes her mysterious glow to turn and off? Stress? Stubbed her toe? Hot flashes? Why is she so nasty to her bleeding heart sappy doormat of a husband? Besides Malik, the only other "thing" that happens is her tribulations in earning tenure. Which at one instant looks like an epic fail and in the next is her fait accompli. I gave an hour and a half to this malarky and I'm worse off for it.