Director: Marie Kreutzer

Stars: Léa Seydoux, Laurence Rupp, Jella Haase, Malo Blanchet, Catherine Deneuve

This disturbing drama from writer-director Marie Kreutzer feels miles removed from her previous picture, the gleefully liberty-taking historical drama ‘Corsage’. Seydoux is Lucy, a French musician and performer who plays stripped down cover versions of songs such as George Michael’s ‘Freedom’ and The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ to devoted audiences. Tellingly, Lucy only performs songs by male artists and in an ominous moment of foreshadowing, the first song we see her rehearsing is Charles and Eddie’s ‘Would I Lie to You?’ She lives in the German countryside with her partner Philip (Rupp) and their young son Johnny (Blanchet). Philip is a filmmaker whose career, unlike Lucy’s, is waning, so he is reluctantly working in TV. Nevertheless, and despite their house’s relative seclusion, they seem happy enough. That is until a police unit led by young officer Else Kühn (Haase) turns up at their door to arrest Philip. Lucy wants to believe her partner is innocent but as the investigation proceeds she finds herself performing increasingly elaborate mental gymnastics to do so. Meanwhile, Else is struggling with similar issues with her senile and inappropriate father. Unsurprisingly this is a harrowing and disturbing watch but a compelling one. Kreutzer’s execution is at once clearheaded and forthright, even as her characters remain enigmatic and unknowable. Léa Seydoux delivers a raw, fearless performance, and Catherine Deneuve makes a big impression in a small part as Lucy’s bluff mother whose attitudes were clearly forged in another era.

David Willoughby

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