Going separate ways

The Separation
Directed by Christian Vincent
Screening at Cinema Como in South Yarra
Opens in Sydney on November 16 at Verona Cinemas, Paddington
Reviewed by Margaret Allan. The Separation is a very good French film about the deteriorating relationship between Anne and Pierre who come to realise that their happiness together is ending. Christian Vincent, whose last film La Discrete was of similar quality, directs The Separation which is based on a novel by Dan Franck. The two main characters experienced as students the turbulent days of Paris May '68, and shared the radical ideas and revolutionary principles of that time. Although the film doesn't cover that period, it is referred to in conversations with their two best friends, Claire and Victor specifically with reference to Pierre and Anne's newer, more affluent lifestyle. Early adulthood during that time of political upsurge has shaped Anne and Pierre's attitude to relationships. They are not married, and have a child, Loulou. Respect for each others' individual freedom is a feature of the process of their separation which doesn't however lessen the pain that both characters, especially Pierre, feel during this unhappy time. Daniel Auteuil, (seen in Romauld et Juliette, and more recently Queen Margot) plays Pierre who grapples with his partner's changed attitude to their relationship, refusing to be jealous when she admits that she loves another man. Auteuil plays Pierre with skill and sensitivity, allowing viewers to agonise with the separation between him and his partner, and inevitably it seems, between him and his child. Isabelle Huppert is well cast as the cooler, but still emotionally distraught, Anne who is bored with Pierre, feeling she has been in this relationship for too many years. The Separation is an intense and quite moving film, which at times becomes emotionally draining. It is however worth watching as an example of good French cinema with a story that doesn't drag.