An Impossible Love

This movie grabbed me because I love French films, and I'm drawn to watching films with both of the lead actors.

It started off good, if not extremely maddening, due to the storyline of the main female character letting herself being used and walked over. That was hard to watch.

Then, halfway through, as the daughter starts to grow up and different actors are used for the character, it gets messy. The storyline in the second half, which I was not expecting, and made me pretty sick, was weird and could be triggering for some.

I love how films make you really feel something, but if it's a storyline for a movie (such as the one that starts halfway through in this movie), I'll usually give it a miss - but who knew from the outset? You'd never guess, and it's pretty gross. Then comes the hastily put-together ending between mother and daughter. I think the title An Impossible Love / Un amour impossible was inaccurate. Perhaps, Un amour revoltant would have been more apt.

The plot is overloaded with all sorts of personal, psychological, familial malfunctions. It ends up tiring you rather than entertain or make one think. The development of the characters is a bit predictable even though they have many different hardships to undergo. The acting is excellent without an exception and the aesthetics of the film is brilliant. I'd say it's like a crush test for yourself to see how you'll react and what you think intuitively about all that's going on.

An impeccable film held together by astonishing performances and a very understated direction. I don't know if I am biased because French is my first language, but I found the film so incredibly real. Even at the lengthy runtime, I barely felt it. Corsini is at the top of their career with this film!

I came to this film with no prior knowledge of it (I didn't even realise it was going to be in French until I started watching) and so had no preconceived ideas about it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself hooked by the storyline from quite an early stage and captivated throughout - perhaps not the easiest of tasks for a lengthy subtitled film (my French is somewhat lacking).

Essentially a woman's account of the relationship between her parents (from their first meeting) and herself (from birth through to adulthood), the story is full of twists and frequently wrong-footed me as to just where it was going to head next, even though the progression of events was generally logical and believable.

Telling its story over the course of decades, I was glad it didn't fall into the usual trap of trying to ram the styles and fads of each period down the viewer's face. The gradual aging of the characters, always a tricky thing for filmmakers to get right, was remarkably convincing too.

Although I'd like to comment on certain specifics of the plot, which can be hard and uncompromising at times (as indeed the effects of human love can be), that would only serve to reduce this film's capacity to surprise the first-time viewer. However, Virginie Efira gives a terrific central performance as Rachel, the woman who spends her whole adult life providing love but finding precious little of it reciprocated. Yes, some might question the rather one-note tone of Rachel's behaviour throughout and the manner in which she just accepts the metaphorical kicks in the teeth without histrionics, but I think it works in this context. Some people are like that and the lack of any reactionary aggression on Rachel's part emphasises how cruelly she is treated, and also demonstrates how being passive does not necessarily always achieve the best outcomes.

I saw this film in London yesterday and loved it. The story takes place in France in the late 50's. It is about love that is subverted by extreme selfishness and class difference, about shifting attitudes and emotions and about reconciliation. Corsini's direction is understated, and the acting of all the leads is very convincing. The film is over two hours long and I wasn't bored for a second.