The Truth (2019 film)

The Truth (French: La Vérité) is a 2019 drama film, written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It stars Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Ludivine Sagnier, Clémentine Grenier, Manon Clavel, Alain Libolt, Christian Crahay and Roger Van Hool. It is Kore-eda's first film set outside Japan and not in his native language.

The Truth
Theatrical release poster
FrenchLa Vérité
Directed byHirokazu Kore-eda
Produced byMuriel Merlin
Written byHirokazu Kore-eda
Starring
Music byAlexeï Aïgui
CinematographyÉric Gautier
Edited byHirokazu Kore-eda
Production
company
Distributed by
  • GAGA (Japan)
  • Le Pacte (France)
Release date
  • 28 August 2019 (2019-08-28) (Venice)
  • 11 October 2019 (2019-10-11) (Japan)
  • 25 December 2019 (2019-12-25) (France)
Running time
106 minutes
Country
  • France
  • Japan
Language
  • French
  • English
Box office$5.2 million[1][2]

The film had its world premiere at the Venice on 28 August 2019. It was released in Japan on 11 October 2019, by GAGA Pictures, and in France on 25 December 2019, by Le Pacte.

Plot

Fabienne Dangeville is a very famous French actress, giving an interview about work on her upcoming book. Her daughter, screenwriter Lumir, son-in-law actor Hank and granddaughter Charlotte arrive. Lumir is surprised that the book has already been printed, as she expected to read it first, before being published. Fabienne tells her that she sent her the manuscript before having the book printed. Later that night, Lumir reads her mother's book.

Next day, Lumir confronts Fabienne about some lines in the book which depict her relationship with her mother as a fairy tale story. Fabienne was very rarely there for Lumir as a child. Lumir also asks why she doesn't mention Sarah once in her book (Sarah Mondavan, being Fabienne's best friend, and an accomplished actress in her own right), and Fabienne simply says it's her book, and that nobody reading it would want to know the truth, because she is a famous actress and her fans would find the truth uninteresting. Later, Luc, Fabienne's manager tells Lumir that Fabienne is doing her current film only because it stars Manon Lenoir, the next big actress who reminds everyone of Sarah Mondavan. It's called "Memories of My Mother".

Lumir goes to the film set, acting as Fabienne's assistant, and watches the film shoot. It's a science fiction movie about a mother who is dying, and so she goes to live in space, in order to stop aging and slow the effects of her terminal illness. She returns to Earth every seven years to visit her daughter, who is older and older with each visit, while she herself doesn't age. Fabienne plays the daughter in her seventies. During a read-through rehearsal of the script, the room seems very impressed with Manon's talent, but Fabienne seems annoyed and believes Manon is being pretentious by overacting. later, Luc tells Fabienne that Manon reminds him of Sarah Mondavan, while Lumir agrees and says they have the same sounding voice.

Annoyed with Fabienne, Luc informs her that he plans to retire and go live with his son's family. Fabienne is surprised to know that Luc had so many grandchildren. Lumir asks him why he is leaving, and he says that Fabienne didn't mention him even once in her memoir as if he never existed. He tells Lumir thar she can manage Fabienne as they would make a good team. Pierre - Lumir's father and Fabienne's ex-husband - surprises everyone by arriving at the house, and Lumir quickly surmises he wants money, which he thinks he deserves for Fabienne publishing a book about him. Lumir tells him that the book mentions him, dead.

Fabienne's current husband, Jacques, makes dinner for the whole family, including Pierre. When Pierre congratulates Hank on his acting successes, Fabienne downplays Hank's TV career, and very casually insults his acting ability while doing so. To get back at her mother for hurting Hank's feelings, Lumir abruptly brings up how Fabienne stole the award-winning role from Sarah by sleeping with the director, and that Sarah's suicide was Fabienne's fault. Fabienne says that Sarah's death was an accident, in that she drowned while swimming after having drank too much. Upset at her mother, Lumir leaves the table in tears. Hank, who had quit drinking, begins drinking wine.

The next day, while shooting scenes with Manon, Fabienne keeps saying she's being distracted by things like cell phones ringing and she keeps messing up her lines. During a later take, she falls down, but then pulls out a great performance from it. Fabienne wants Luc back, but doesn't know what to do. Lumir tells her to apologize, and Fabienne says that she has never apologized and asks Lumir to write an apology script for her to memorize. Later, the family has dinner with Luc and his extended family, and Fabienne tells Luc that Lumir wants him back instead of apologizing using the script Lumir had written for her.

Back on the set, Fabienne panics and leaves saying she's quitting acting and that Manon is mocking her. Lumir asks her to just admit Manon is a better actress and to quit running away. Out of pride, Fabienne returns to the set. She tells Lumir that she sees Sarah sometimes, and thinks she would be better at acting if Sarah was watching her. She offers Manon a compliment, and finishes her scenes in the film.

Lumir compliments her mother on her performance, and later Manon stops by to compliment her as well. Fabienne admits that it was the kind of thing she would have done with Sarah, who Manon reminds her of. She ends up giving Manon Sarah's favorite dress, which fits her perfectly. Manon asks Fabienne what Sarah was like, and she tells her how talented she was.

Fabienne admits to Lumir that she was jealous of Sarah. Lumir asks her why that wasn't in her book, and Fabienne says maybe she will include it in the second edition. Lumir hugs her mother, cries and tells her she must truly have magical powers because she's on the verge of forgiving her. Fabienne then suddenly gets upset that she should have played the scene with Manon like this and what a waste it is to not use the emotions in the scene.

Charlotte goes to Fabienne and tells her that her number one wish is that she wants to be an actress someday. She tells Fabienne she wants her to go into space so that she can stop aging (similar to Manon's character from the film), so she can watch her grow up to become an actress, which moves Fabienne. Charlotte then goes back to Lumir, and it's revealed it's a line that Lumir wrote for her. Charlotte asks if it's real or not, and Lumir simply smiles.

Luc returns to work, where Fabienne has Charlotte present him with a homemade medal and is nice to him. She asks him to have a reshoot scheduled for "Memories of My Mother", since she thinks she can do the scene better now. Lumir asks Luc if he really ever intended to leave, but he doesn't say. The family heads out together, and Fabienne notes that she loves Parisian winters.

Cast

Production

In July 2018, it was announced Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke would join the film's cast.[3] It is Kore-eda's first film set outside Japan and not in his native language.[4]

Production began in October 2018.[5] Éric Gautier served as the film's cinematographer.[6]

Release and reception

In January 2019, IFC Films and Curzon Artificial Eye acquired U.S. and U.K. distribution rights to the film.[7][8] The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 28 August 2019.[9] It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2019.[10]

It was scheduled to be released in the United States and United Kingdom on 20 March 2020.[11][12] However, it was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 76 reviews, with an average rating of 6.96/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Truth may not stand with Hirokazu Kore-eda's best work, but it finds the writer-director revisiting familiar themes with a typically sensitive touch."[14] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]

References
  1. "La vérité". The Numbers. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. "The Truth". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  3. Wiseman, Andreas (July 16, 2018). "Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke & Catherine Deneuve To Star In 'The Truth' Palme d'Or Winner Hirokazu Kore-eda". Deadline. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  4. Chang, Justin (November 23, 2018). "Hirokazu Kore-eda carries on through success and sadness with the release of his Palme d'Or winner, 'Shoplifters'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  5. Binoche, Juliette (October 17, 2018). "Today shooting with Kore-eda 🖤". Instagram. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  6. Raup, Jordan (May 22, 2018). "Hirokazu Kore-eda's New Drama Starring Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve Gets Title and Synopsis". The Film Stage. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  7. Brzeski, Patrick (February 8, 2019). "IFC Films Acquires Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'The Truth' Starring Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  8. Goodfellow, Melanie (February 9, 2019). "Wild Bunch scores strong sales on Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'The Truth' (exclusive)". Screendaily. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  9. Vivarelli, Nick (18 July 2019). "Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'The Truth' With Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche to Open Venice Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  10. Vlessing, Etan (August 13, 2019). "'The Aeronauts,' 'Burnt Orange Heresy' Added to Toronto Film Fest Lineup". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  11. "The Truth". IFC Films. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  12. "The Truth". Curzon Artificial Eye. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  13. Welk, Brian (March 12, 2020). "Hollywood's Day of Reckoning: 'Mulan,' 'F9' and More Delayed Over Coronavirus Fears". TheWrap. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  14. "The Truth (La vérité) (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  15. "The Truth Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
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