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2010 Festival Feature Films (March 25-28)

French director Julie Lopes-Curval presents Mères et filles

director Julie Lopes-Curval screenplay Julie Lopes-Curval, Sophie Hiet starring Catherine Deneuve, Marie-Josée Croze, Marina Hands, Michel Duchaussoy, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey, Carole Franck, Éléonore Hirt running time 1 h 45 min general audience

Synopsis

Three women, three generations.

In the 1950s, Louise left her husband when their children were still very young. She was never heard from again. Her daughter, Martine, stayed in the small seaside town, where she became a doctor.

Martine's daughter, Audrey, an independent 30-year-old, returns to visit her parents. By chance, she finds a notebook that belonged to her grandmother — a diary that may at last explain her departure.

Will it reveal the things left unsaid that have altered the relationships within the heart of the family ever since? In it, will Audrey find answers to the questions that she asks herself about her own future?

director/screenwriter
Julie Lopes-Curval

selected filmography

actress
Catherine Deneuve

selected filmography

accomplishments

actress
Marie-Josée Croze

selected filmography

accomplishments

actress
Marina Hands

selected filmography

accomplishments

Interview with director, Julie Lopes-Curval

Where did the idea for Mères et filles come from?
In a very general sense, I wanted to talk about the position of the modern woman and the evolution of her situation over the years: the role that has been assigned to her, the freedom that she has earned. It’s something that I thought about during my trips abroad with my first film, Bord de mer. The fact that I was a young woman was constantly thrown at me as something astounding. What appeared natural to me seemed unusual elsewhere. I ended up reflecting upon the condition of women and also upon my own family history. I had first thought of a documentary and then I took off from the idea of three women from three different generations. I wanted a story that was tough and violent, that showed how the lack of freedom is still fresh in the memory of women today. I imagined three characters. A free modern woman, Audrey, with the question: what to do with one’s freedom? A woman, Louise, who finds herself a “prisoner” and what she can make of her prison. Then we have a woman caught between these two generations, Martine. I sought to veil these reflections somehow behind an apparently simple story: a pregnant woman asks herself questions, goes to stay with her family, investigates. It is important to hide what you want to tell and to tell it through each character, each situation, to see how the particular reveals the universal.

Starting from the idea, was the story quick to construct?
Oh no, the writing process was long, I started off on many different paths, it took some time for this story to become clearer to Sophie Hiet, my co-screenwriter, and to me. At one point, the film was to take place in a town on the seacoast where Christian Dior had lived. The couturier himself was one of the characters and the oldest woman would watch him pass by — he embodied Paris, an image of freedom. At another point, a part of the story was set in the 1970s, as we followed Martine in her youth. And then there was the idea of household electrical appliances, which represent a progress that was “freeing” to women. Audrey spent many moments of her childhood in this kitchen; she was happy there, she loved the objects that were in it. All of these ideas were put into place little by little, included with them the secret that I considered necessary for shedding light on the violence of the condition of women.