L'école de la chair

Isabelle Ann Huppert is a gorgeous, mature woman. She dominates this film, and even though a strong cast supports her, she still dominates. Her motive for sticking with this jerk remains cloudy, unless he is the world's greatest lover. I was mesmerised by Huppert, however, and I will look for more films with her in them, and there are quite a lot of them.

A superb study of a mature woman's knowledge of her inner self, and acting out on instinct, regardless of the consequences, THE SCHOOL OF FLESH is memorable. Isabelle Huppert, at home playing cold, calculated women, shines as the mature woman, supported by fine performances, notably by Vincent Lindon, in a highly atypical role, and professional direction by veteran Benoit Jacquot.

This film is near the top of my list for best films out of France. It is a superb production. The scenes between Dominique (Isabelle Huppert) and Quentin (Vincent Martinez) are completely convincing with natural conversation and sensitive mood changes. While the disparity of ages between lovers is not a new theme, it has never been handled more expertly than here where the older woman wants to "possess" the young call-boy but he is determined to remain a free spirit. What is so arresting in this story is that we know so little about the characters and their past. But information is gleaned bit by bit from their conversations, and never very much, so we hunger for more as the story unfolds. The dewy-eyed Isabelle Huppert in the final scenes reveals her talent as a fine actress. A wonderful piece of cinema that holds you to the end...and what an ending when the two characters realize that their dream has ended and they now face the harsh realities of life.

Isabelle Huppert is as beautiful as ever, but it is hard to see why her character does the things she does in this confused tale of cross-generational lovers. As a middle-aged businesswoman, Huppert takes a much younger bisexual bartender/hustler into her home, pays his debts, buys him clothes. He never seems to treat her well enough to justify her generosity, and he never seems interesting or lovable enough to justify her affection. It all comes unravelled eventually, after enough nude love scenes to keep most of the audience awake most of the time.

"Middle-aged divorcee picks up barman in gay bar" isn't a promising plot-line; the title's soft-porn suggestion is also off-putting. But in fact it's a delicate and attractive handling of what could have been sordid relationships. The key word, I suppose, is "tender"; we are frequently led to expect violence (the barman Quentin is a kick-boxer - we watch him attacking a punchbag during the title sequence) but are instead surprised by reasonableness and gentleness. The few nude scenes manage to be erotic without ever being vulgar. Relationships are weird, the film (and Mishima's novel) seems to say, but there can still be tenderness in life. Isabelle Huppert exudes French charm . . .