La Nouvelle Ève (1999) Directed by Catherine Corsini
Comedy / Drama / Romance
aka: The New Eve
Film Review
This galloping romantic comedy makes a plausible, although far from original, statement
about the frustrations of a modern woman (the ‘new Eve'), but it is somewhat
hampered by an aimless plot and some weak characterisation. Despite one or two entertaining moments,
the whole thing appears weak and overly reliant
on unconvincing stereotypes (particularly of lesbians and men in general). The film's
one saving grace is an ebullient performance from Karin Viard, who plays the feisty, emotionally
unbalanced Camille with gusto.
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Film Synopsis
Not for Camille the oppressive yoke of matrimony. She may be thirty
but she has no intention of settling down just yet. She enjoys her
freedom far too much to do anything so rash and grown-up as starting a family.
She would rather flitter from one meaningless liaison to another, taking
from life what she can without getting herself trapped by convention or that
ghastly overrated thing called love. The prospect of ending up like
her brother - married to a dull woman and saddled with a constantly bawling
baby - is not one that appeals to her. And yet doesn't she secretly
envy those in a long-term relationship? Is she perhaps missing out
on something by playing the modern liberated woman to excess?
These are the very thoughts that occur to her when Alexis suddenly enters
her life, unexpected and uninvited.
Alexis awakens something in Camille, something she has never experienced
before. She isn't just attracted to him physically. She feels
something deeper - the need to hold onto him. This is presumably why
she ends up taking part in his activities as a Socialist Party supporter.
After a night spent sticking up campaign posters in the pouring rain, Camille
follows Alexis home and is surprised to find that he is already married and
has two daughters. The rational thing for her to do would be to end
the affair there and then, but no, Camille stays with it and ends up befriending
Alexis's wife Isabelle and their children. After a while, the affair
seems to have run its course and Camille refuses to go on being the mistress
to a man who has no intention of leaving his wife. Instead, she
opts to marry another man she scarcely has any feeling for and soon manages
to get herself pregnant. It is then that Alexis re-enters her life,
with the news that he is at last a free man...
With so many great films to choose from, it's nigh on impossible to compile a short-list of the best 15 French films of all time - but here's our feeble attempt to do just that.
In the 1920s French cinema was at its most varied and stylish - witness the achievements of Abel Gance, Marcel L'Herbier, Jean Epstein and Jacques Feyder.