The Truth
The previous films of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s that I have seen- “Nobody Knows” and “Shoplifters”- are piercing looks at Japanese families on the outskirts of society, struggling to survive under uncertain circumstances; the former of those remains one of the most heartbreakingly moving experiences I’ve ever had in a movie theatre. “The Truth” is not Kore-eda in that mode, but what we get remains a honest experience when it comes to the characters in the film; it’s his first film away from his native Japan, and I hope it opens up new fans to his previous work.
Fabienne Dangeville (played by the legendary Catherine Deneuve) is sitting with an interviewer in the luxurious house she shares with her husband; he is talking to her about her new memoir, entitled The Truth, and we can tell that she is used to being in control of the narrative when it comes how she interacts with the interviewer- she comes off like the diva actor in every way. At the tail end of the interview, her daughter (Lumir, played by Juliette Binoche) and her family come to visit her, in celebration of the book’s release. It is the first time in many years Lumir and her daughter, Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier), have visited Fabienne, and the first time Hank (Ethan Hawke), Lumir’s actor husband, has been to the house. In addition to the book release, Fabienne is also acting in a sci-fi movie opposite a young actress whom reminds many around her of an old rival. The visit brings a lot of painful truths out in the open, although the memory is not always honest with the heart about what is true, and what isn’t.
One of the things that feels a bit disarming about “The Truth” as it starts is that the story seems so conventional in how Fabienne and Lumir’s relationship is drawn. We see Lumir practically rolling her eyes as she goes through Fabienne’s memoir, pointing out every level of untruth the movie spins about their relationship. We also see how vein Fabienne is, being the consummate “self-absorbed” actor, who understands the process better than anyone, and looks down on those she views as inferior, even if that’s Lumir’s husband, who’s just a “TV actor.” I’ll admit- I was kind of rolling my eyes at this film for a time. And then, Lumir and Charlotte go to the set of the film with Fabienne, and suddenly, the film starts to come in to focus. The movie is a film about a mother who is sick, and leaves Earth to heal herself, leaving her husband and daughter behind. The scenes we see involve interactions with the never-aging mother with her daughter and different times of her life- Fabienne plays the daughter in her 70s- and what we see in these scenes illuminates the dynamics in Fabienne and Lumir’s relationships, and even the relationship Charlotte might have with Fabienne. All the while, there is this tension about how the lead actress looks like a former rival of Fabienne’s who died tragically at a young age. Seeing how all that plays in to the relationship, as well, is one of the most intriguing parts of Kore-eda’s screenplay, and what engages us as it goes along.
This is a film where actors are allowed to shine, and Kore-eda gets the most out of his cast. Deneuve is wonderful as Fabienne, who was always better as an actress and star than as a mother, and is not afraid to admit it to her daughter, even if she can’t quite bring herself to be honest about it to the public. Matching her every step of the way in Binoche, and seeing how she goes through an evolution about her mother, and we see how she has tried to distance herself from being just like her, is one of the most interesting parts of the film. The two actresses meet each other well in this fractured family dynamic. Hawke has an interesting role here, and we see how being around these two powerful personalities has an effect on him in quiet, subdued ways; he is the one most comfortable with who he is, and it’s a terrific performance. I may not have been engaged at the start with what Kore-eda was doing in this film, but by the time it ended, it was another successfully emotional work from a filmmaker whose work is all about reflecting painful truths in families, at least from what I’ve seen.
