Le Bal des folles

Lou de Laage is Eugenie, a headstrong woman who is committed to an insane asylum in 1885 France by her wealthy and domineering father. Victor Hugo's funeral opens the film and Eugenie was amongst the large crowd.

The young woman goes into fits and claims to communicate with the spirits of the dead. She finds a long lost necklace of her grandmother's while in such a state. Somehow, this event does not convince the rest of her family of her ESP like abilities.

At the asylum, Eugenie is subject to all kinds of atrocious "therapies," including ice baths and a month long stay in a what looks like a dungeon.

De Laage is magnificent in the lead and she can be seen as a doctor in postwar Germany in The Innocents. The actress deserves more widespread recognition.

The Mad Women's Ball is difficult to watch but a very good movie.

Ice water soakings, solitary confinement in dark cells, tranquilizers, and random body cavity inspections are just a sampling of the standard psychiatry treatments inflicted upon captive female patients in France 130 years ago. Free spirited Eugenie suffers debilitating visions that she cannot control or understand. She is only in need of some gentle guidance, understanding, and self-confidence. Instead, Eugenie is tricked by her parents and committed against her will to a cruel and misogynistic psychiatric ward. Abandoned by her relatives, Eugenie finds a different family among her unlucky ward sisters.

Women's history is reimagined in a scorching yet sensitive way by Melanie Laurent who directs and stars in the film. Thankfully the film is made in France, and therefore uncensored and blunt. While the film lacks cohesion and a little spark, it is enlightening and energizing to witness multidimensional, realistic, and complicated female characters, and women behind as well as on the screen who are defined not by men but by themselves.

World premiere seen at the Toronto international film festival.

In reading some of the other reviews, I see people looking for answers to parts of the story that are really 'subplots' of the main story. This is a story of female bonds & friendships - particularly an understanding & friendship between two women who, due to opposing 'sides' in the foundation of the plot (I won't specify, as it would contain spoilers), would not be friends had it not been for a mutual understanding & an open-mindedness of a caring person working in a facility filled w very few individuals of that nature.

It is also a story of friendship among women who were suffering the victimization of the times & the misunderstanding of what it meant to be so easily mislabeled as mentally ill.

It's a beautiful story & I don't know if reviewers who are looking for solid 'answers' are used to American cinema & don't respect or understand what MAY just be cultural film differences; or it may just be the idea that the story is really just about friendships, sacrifice & freedom, not a story ending in a nice, satisfying fashion - folding up neatly in the end simply for viewer satisfaction.

There are subplots in the movie that will be left unanswered & while that might be frustrating to some, they ARE simply subplots that leave the viewer in a position to decide for oneself what may or may not have followed in the storyline.

I highly recommend this, although it's not action packed along the way there is something very beautiful about the entire story.

I was totally unaware of this film because I did not see any publicity but I was encouraged to see it without even knowing what it was about. What can I tell you, this movie was awesome from start to finish. The story is brilliant, costumes and performances impeccable, the music is beautiful and I am fascinated. I Love French cinema! In fact it is the first French film produced by Amazon.

A great movie. Good story, great acting and just the right length. Amazon did will with this one. Almost makes want to watch another French movie.

I don't know anything about French actors but whoever played Eugenie is equal to the best in America.