Monday 16 March 2020
10:00am and 6:30pm
Directed by Hirokozu Koreeda
Drama France/Japan (subtitled)
107 Mins PG
After the worldwide success of the 2018 Cannes Palme
d’Or-winning Shoplifters director Kore-eda Hirokazu’s wry and
charming new dramedy THE TRUTH pairs French screen icons
Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche for the first time, as a celebrated
actress and her estranged daughter whose tentative reunion offers an
opportunity to either repair or irrevocably fracture their relationship.
Fabienne (Deneuve) is a star; a much loved, larger-than-life icon of French
cinema. When she publishes her memoirs, her screenwriter daughter Lumir
(Binoche) returns to Paris from New York for the occasion, with her struggling
actor husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their inquisitive young daughter Charlotte
(Clémentine Grenier) in tow. It comes as no surprise to Lumir that everything
in her grand childhood home still revolves around her mother, and as she begins
to read Fabienne’s book it becomes clear it’s riddled with omissions and
embellishments – especially with regard to her relationship with the great
artistic rival of her past, Sarah Mondavan.
Fabienne herself has no time for explanations and small talk; she’s preparing
for her next film, a science-fiction drama, cast alongside a rising new talent
touted as ‘the next Sarah Mondavan’. When Fabienne’s long-suffering assistant
unexpectedly quits, she and Lumir are reluctantly forced into an awkward
working relationship, with Lumir revisiting the same film studios where she
spent countless hours as a child. As the on and off-set worlds begin to
amusingly – and movingly – intertwine, suppressed emotions can no longer be
kept in check…
“It feels like a chamber piece because it is: a chance for the director to observe an ocean-going star in all her glory, to see what he can do as her captain”. Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald
“Works splendidly. A gentle film composed of many delights.” David Stratton, The Australian
“Delightful. Unfolds in the most satisfying way. If you like complex human studies directed and realised with the utmost finesse, make sure you put this one on your holiday viewing list.” Julian Wood, Filmink