John Waters is famous as the “pope of trash” and his wicked, silly, trashy, kitschy, bad and funny movies. When I first came to Baltimore and was introduced to his work I thought this is one crazy man and expected that his selections for the annual film festival would reflect the craziness of his own work, too. In our last few festival years, however, he repeatedly surprised me with film selections that were not trashy or crazy at all. Instead he selected films that dealt with relationships, love, desires and very intimate, private, human and natural aspects of life that are rarely visible in movies. They may have been deep, dramatic, serious, or humorous, but they always were quite down-to-earth and beyond all stereotypes and expectations.
This year he picked the French film Story of Women about the last woman to be executed for performing abortions in the nazi-occupied France. Isabelle Huppert was remarkable in her incredibly complex role as Marie. As someone wrote in a review: “[...] She is clear-headed and sly as a business woman, warm and ordinary as a mother, cold and brutal as a wife, childish and careless as an adulteress, resourceful and fearless as an abortionist [...]” the scope of her character was extraordinary.
I thought this story sounded so familiar to me and I was sure I have watched this film before, perhaps a dubbed version back in Germany? But on the other hand, how could I have forgotten about such an impressive film? No, I haven’t seen Story of Women released in 1988 before. Actually, it was Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake released in 2004. It plays in England of the 50s and not France, but very much follows the similar story of a woman who performs abortions and gets into trouble after one procedure ended with complications. Vera Drake was good, Story of Women by far superior.
Story of Women is a careful, complex story and character study with a lot of attention to realism and detail. It definitely is an excellent work of French cinema. [imdb]
We live in a world where the debate around abortion is locked in simple, dogmatic positions that too often squeeze all human reality out of the equation. But this provocative film from one of France’s most talented filmmakers refuses to let us settle in so comfortably.
Film legend Claude Chabrol tells the story of women who lived under France’s Nazi-collaborating Vichy government and became involved in abortion for a variety of reasons. The lead character, Marie Latour, based on a real woman and played by the great actress Isabelle Huppert, becomes an abortionist not out of conviction, but because she sees a need and fills it. Prosecuted by a government with a severely compromised moral framework, she was one of the last women in France to be executed.
Chabrol doesn’t let the viewer take sides easily. Janet Maslin’s New York Times review praised the film, saying it “resolutely avoids passing judgment,” and Chabrol himself dedicates the film to “all its interpreters,” asking us to confront moral complexities we’d rather avoid. It’s a unique film from this great director, who distinguished himself as one of the pioneers of the French New Wave, and whose extensive body of work (with seventy films to his name and counting) is comprised primarily of subtle psychological thrillers.
Highly praised by critics and the winner of numerous awards, yet infrequently shown on the big screen in the U.S., a rare 35mm print of Story of Women has been flown in by diplomatic pouch. (Jed Dietz) (from the filmfest-guide)
