Léa Seydoux shines in thoroughly modern 'One Fine Morning'
Looking at the current cinematic landscape, it’s easy to deduce that stateside auteurs have almost entirely given up on making films about modern people and modern problems.
Think about the directors you like, then try to remember the last film they set in contemporary time. Sofia Coppola and Noah Baumbach come to mind. But it’s a short list. The John Cassaveteses and Woody Allens of the 21st century have yet to present themselves.
On this continent anyway. In Europe, you can find all sorts of spectacular explorations of the present-day world. A great example is Mia Hansen-Løve’s “One Fine Morning,” which starts a run at Ragtag Cinema Friday. It tells the story of Sandra, who's widowed with a young daughter and dealing both with an aged parent losing his memory and a long-lost friend with whom she begins an affair. The melodrama of her story is is more than familiar. But the execution, as well as a central performance by Léa Seydoux, makes the film resonate.
Sandra is a translator and the film takes effort to show her in a real, day-to-day job. There’s irony here: Sandra makes a living helping people understand something otherwise indecipherable. She could use some help with that herself.
In addition to raising a daughter alone, her father Georg (Pascal Greggory) can no longer live on his own. The audience senses, without much exposition, that the parental relationship wasn’t all that great. There’s lots of talk about Georg’s books and his work as a philosophy professor. My take was dear old dad spent more time theorizing about life than living it. Also ironic.
But Sandra is a good daughter, or maybe just someone willing to forgive the weaknesses and transgressions of the men in her life. More on that in a bit.
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The dilemma presented by her father also benefits from the film’s attention to detail. We see conversations between family members on what to do, see them struggling to accept obvious outcomes. We feel the embarrassment of dealing with the basic needs of a person whose mind and body is failing them.
We are enveloped with the dim depression of a nursing home straining to be sunny and cheery. Hansen-Løve wants the audience to feel the beats of this experience, and to show us how it changes the characters as the film progresses.
Sandra’s relationship with Clément (Melvil Poupaud) is also ripe for revelations. They run into each other by chance but have a history — one I will save for you to discover. He is married. That is barely a deterrent from desire. Clément is often distant and aloof; he travels quite a bit studying the chemical composition of material from space. He’s more interested with things up there than down here one might say. But Sandra has a broken heart and is going through a rough time. Cold comfort is better than no comfort at all.
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“One Fine Morning” rushes none of its central conflicts. Becoming familiar with the characters as they navigate these issues is the focus. It works because the script isn’t afraid to make the characters flawed or unlikable at moments. Their complicated natures are wholly embraced not only by Hansen-Løve but also by the actors.
Seydoux is a marvel to watch. She’s been able to stand out not only in small dramas like this, but James Bond actioneers and splashy Wes Anderson comedies over the past few years. Her versatility speaks well for a long career.
I spent much of the film wondering why moviemakers like Tarantino, Scorsese and the Coens entrench themselves in a faraway time. Is it because American filmmakers are simply older and find those eras more appealing? Are we not cultivating young filmmaking talent in this country? Or does modern technology like cell phones make it harder to tell a human story when the reality is people are staring at their screens all day? Maybe modern Europeans are just more interesting.
Or maybe it’s because everyone feels like they are in a funk, so any film is going to seem dispirited and such an effort might be tough for a filmmaker to tackle. Hansen-Løve embraces the existential doldrums of trying to figure out relationships in such frustrating times. It might seem too familiar but feels real and meaningful.
By smartly looking at real people with real problems, “One Fine Morning” is a revelation of modern dysfunctional life.
James Owen is the Tribune’s film columnist. In real life, he is a lawyer and executive director of energy policy group Renew Missouri. A graduate of Drury University and the University of Kansas, he created Filmsnobs.com, where he co-hosts a podcast. He enjoyed an extended stint as an on-air film critic for KY3, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, and now regularly guests on Columbia radio station KFRU.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Léa Seydoux shines in thoroughly modern 'One Fine Morning'
