La Prisonnière de Bordeaux

Movies about unlikely friendships that overcome class and racial barriers have enjoyed popularity in France (consider the 2011 hit comedy INTOUCHABLES), and at first glance, LA PRISONNIÈRE DE BORDEAUX seems to fit this popular mould. Alma (Isabelle Huppert) is a wealthy retired ballerina and Mina (Hafsia Herzi) is a cleaning lady and mother of two, with both women married to men serving prison sentences in Bordeaux. Drawn to Mina’s strong personality, Alma goes out of her way to befriend the younger woman, who she treats with a suspicious amount of generosity (key to the ambiguity of Alma’s intentions is Huppert’s uncanny, disarmingly poised presence). Alma invites Mina and her two kids to move into her luxurious townhouse, which sets a delicate, ultimately heartbreaking narrative in motion about the limits of philanthropy and the scars that prevent us from embracing love. Directed by Patricia Mazuy, a French auteur known for her rich character studies, LA PRISONNIÈRE DE BORDEAUX takes a familiar premise and deepens it from the inside with nuanced performances and a sense of social tragedy redolent of the films of Douglas Sirk. (Beatrice Loayza)

On October 24th in the presence of Patricia Mazuy.

Patricia Mazuy: LA BOITEUSE (1984), PEAUX DE VACHES (1989), DES TAUREAUX ET DES VACHES (1992), LA FINALE (1999), SAINT-CYR (2000), BASSE NORMANDIE (2004), SPORT DE FILLES (2011), PAUL SANCHEZ EST REVENU! (2018), BOWLING SATURNE (2022)