The Truth: Film Review

There might not be any blockbuster releases on the horizon but there are plenty of independent film releases coming to digital over the next few weeks – and first up, it’s Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s French family drama, The Truth.

The film stars Catherine Deneuve as Fabienne, a famous French actress. She has a problematic relationship with her daughter, screenwriter Lumir (Juliette Binoche), who comes to Paris to visit from her home in New York with her American husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their daughter Charlotte (Clementine Grenier) to celebrate the release of her mother’s memoir, The Truth.

Deneuve gives a tremendous performance as the feisty and formidable Fabienne, who clearly cared more about her career than caring for her daughter, who was forced to be independent and take care of herself from a young age. It is interesting to watch their relationship evolve from being frosty and confrontational in the beginning, with them both airing resentments and telling hard truths, to being loving and understanding. Binoche is equally impressive (as always) and gives a more sensitive and considered performance. Hawke doesn’t have as much to do really since he doesn’t speak much French, but he does have a moment to shine in one scene with Fabienne.

There isn’t the greatest amount of plot in The Truth, Kore-eda’s first film set outside of Japan and not in his native language, but that doesn’t really matter. The relationship between the two leads is so compelling and well written, as well as Fabienne’s struggles with rising actress Manon (Manon Clavel), her co-star in her new film, who makes her doubt her acting abilities.

This an engrossing family drama with interesting ideas about the relationship between mother and daughter and how two versions of the truth can be completely different.

Available on Curzon Home Cinema now