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Judith Therpauve
1978 Drama
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Summary
In her 50s, Judith Therpauve lives alone in the country, in a house inherited from her
husband, a resistance fighter who died during the War. One day, she is visited by
some old friends who ask her to take on the management of a newspaper they founded just
after the war. The current manager is dying in hospital and the newspaper, running
into financial problems, could be bought up by a competitor. Judith agrees to take
on the challenge and tries to reverse the fortunes of the newspaper. Not all of
her staff agree to the changes she imposes, and one of her editors quits and helps to
set up a rival newspaper...
Review
Patrice Chéreau’s second film is this heavy social realist drama featuring a former
legend of French cinema, Simone Signoret (now sadly past her best). The film is
a depressing study about the futility of trying to apply the ideals of the past in the
modern world. In spite of the generally good production values, the film cannot
be classed as one of Chéreau’s better works. It is ponderously slow in places
and has great difficulty engaging its audience. One major fault is that the characters
are not fully developed and seem to just pop up from nowhere without much explanation
of the their background. The film’s message is also frustratingly ambiguous
and the tragic ending has surprisingly little impact, probably because of its inevitability.
Signoret’s performance is typically charismatic but lacks the intensity and pathos needed
for the film to have any real impact on its spectator.
© James Travers 2001 Write a review for this film... |
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