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All great actresses of a certain age should get to anchor as many starring vehicles as the indefatigable Isabelle Huppert. Her prolific output and enduring marquee-name status are testament to French cinema’s continued interest in women past the age where Hollywood mostly confines them to secondary mom roles. But that doesn’t mean every project is going to be a gem, and “About Joan,” a muddled, maudlin character study that gives its leading lady plenty of screen time but little to actually do, sits at the least memorable end of her filmography. Starring Huppert as an independent, unmarried woman reflecting on the various men she’s loved and lost over the course of four decades, it’s painless but aimless, sunk by a terminal lack of narrative vigor.

Premiering in Berlin’s non-competitive Berlinale Special section (and surely selected only as an event on which to pin the festival...