“The Truth”– Movie Review

On the opening night of Lincoln Center’s French Film Festival, I attended a screening of the New York Premiere for the new family drama by director Hirokazu Kore-eda, “The Truth”, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke. 

Synopsis

At a family reunion, can the matriarch resolve past conflicts when confronted by her daughter? 

Story

With her long-awaited memoirs about to be published, famed actress Fabienne (Deneuve) gears up to do a substantial amount of publicity for it while shooting her latest movie.  As this occurs, her daughter, Lumir (Binoche), a screenwriter, returns to Fabienne’s home in Paris to help her celebrate.  Lumir, who now lives in New York City, is not alone – she brings her own family, which includes her daughter and her husband Hank (Hawke), an American television actor.  This is the first time in years Lumir has seen her mother; the last time she visited her, Lumir’s daughter was an infant and Hank was absent (because he was in rehab for his alcoholism).

When Lumir finally gets a chance to read a copy of Fabienne’s book, she’s aghast at the abundance of lies, half-truths and misleading statements her mother has made.  Rather than coming clean about her life and their relationship, Fabienne paints a much different picture in her memoirs, making her appear much the heroine and looking at her world through rose-colored glasses.  In addition to that, Fabienne’s book has omitted mentions of her long-time companion, a man she has been with since divorcing her husband (Lumir’s biological father) decades ago. 

As the free-flowing French wine surrounds the entire family, Lumir’s concerns about Hank falling off the wagon grow; initially sticking to strictly drinking water, he ultimately gets caught up in the ambiance and begins to indulge himself – getting drunk and misbehaving.  Meanwhile, Fabienne is consumed with worries over her co-star Manon (Manon Clavel), a promising young actress who is featured in the science fiction film they are shooting together; she reminds Fabienne of a contemporary actress from her past – someone with whom Fabienne would have to compete for roles.  All of this occurs against a backdrop of anxiety as Lumir tries desperately to straighten out her mother regarding the truth of their past.  Before Lumir returns to New York City, will she be able to get Fabienne to concede some of the reality behind their often dysfunctional relationship?      

Review

“The Truth” is an entertaining little trifle – perhaps best described as a warm and flaky croissant:  enjoyable without being totally satisfying.  Arguably, its best feature is the cast – the performances are just as wonderful as you would expect.  Nothing extraordinary to be seen here, yet pleasant enough to make an effort to see.  One might get the impression that without the director and big-name actors attached to the project, this might’ve wound up being either a minor independent film or even a made-for-TV movie.         

While there are certainly a number of amusing moments in “The Truth”, it must be noted that the movie is never oppressively dour to be clearly identified as a drama, either.  It is neither a comedy nor a drama; instead, it falls somewhere in between.  Also, it hardly can be described as something of an average family here – everyone in this story is rather well to do.  As a result, it may be hard to relate for some people.  All of the primary characters are in the entertainment industry in some form.  Are we to understand from the film that this sort of family dysfunction doesn’t occur for people who own a small neighborhood convenience store? 

Ultimately, the truth of “The Truth” is highlighted by the subplot of the movie-within-a-movie.  Fabienne is coming up on the end of a shoot for a science-fiction flick where her character’s own mother doesn’t age because the woman spent seven years in space – where you don’t age.  In this topsy-turvy world, the daughter ages while the mother does not.  Here, the screenplay cleverly underlines the personal problem that is facing Fabienne:  the fact that she is aging and it seems like the rest of the world is so much younger than she.