The Truth

The Truth

La vérité
Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda
France | 2019 | Narrative
106 minutes | French & English

Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Shoplifters”) journeys to France for his latest work — which premiered at Venice — and recruits an impressive roster of international talent to star. Even in her 70s, Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) — now an imperious grande dame of the French cinema — continues to exert a powerful pull on the men who have long adored her legendary beauty and talent. The publication of Fabienne’s memoirs prompts her daughter, screenwriter Lumir (Juliette Binoche), to return to Paris from her New York home, with her TV-actor husband (Ethan Hawke) and young child (Clémentine Grenier) in tow. But the reunion between mother and daughter quickly turns to confrontation, with lacerating truths told, accounts settled, and loves and resentments confessed. Variety writes: “Deneuve, at 75, has never stopped working or even slowed down, yet she hasn’t had a role this delectable in years, and she gives a magnificent performance: grand, subtle, lacerating and fearless. She makes Fabienne a proudly narcissistic and theatrical glamour puss who has no patience for the idea that she should pretend to be anything other than the devious, self-adoring prima donna she is.”