Herald rating: * * *
Debutante director Leclere reportedly approached Isabelle Huppert in the street as both were collecting their kids from school and gave her a copy of her script for this bittersweet story of sibling angst.
Huppert, one of the great stars (The Piano Teacher) of her generation was
plainly impressed, but the finished product is an oddly directionless affair, hampered by the fact that its main characters never become any more interesting than when we first meet them.
Huppert plays Martine, a chic and affluent Parisienne trapped in a loveless marriage who plays reluctant host to her prosaic provincial sister Louise (Frot) who has come to town to talk to a publisher about the novel she's written.
Martine is bitter, angry and critical and the tirelessly enthusiastic Louise's constant burbling drives her to distraction. It is only in small gestures - a glimpse of an unread manuscript discarded in a car boot; the giggles of Martine's friends - that we see the pain the visitor feels.
It's not until midway through the film that we realise the dark history the two share (in the meantime understanding the significance of the film's French title which translates as The Angry Sisters) and the difference in the way they deal with it.
The film is cleverly scripted and well acted, but the arc of the sisters' relationship is predictable and the denouement is virtually devoid of emotional resonance.
CAST: Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Frot
DIRECTOR: Alexandre Leclere
RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes
RATING: M
SCREENING: Rialto, Bridgeway
