Following hot on the heels of her masterful work in “Elle,” Isabelle Huppert delivers her second extraordinary performance of the year in
“Things to Come,” playing a woman at a point of
personal crisis. Huppert is Nathalie, a 60-ish professor of philosophy whose
comfortable existence begins to unravel in small but collectively significant
ways. Her neurotic, hypochondriac mother (Édith Scob) retreats further into illness, requiring a transition
into assisted living. This is followed shortly by news from her publisher that
they’ll be dropping her textbook series in order to move in a more “modern”
direction. Then after 25 years together, Nathalie’s husband (André Marcon) announces that he’s leaving her for another woman.
That description sounds like a recipe for melodrama and
rah-rah affirmations of empowerment, but the story never becomes quite so
dramatic. In the hands of writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve,
this potentially trite story about getting one’s groove back doesn’t follow any
of the paths you might anticipate, and defies those expectations in thoughtful
and surprising ways.
Ensconced in her life of academia for so long, Nathalie finds
these setbacks rather liberating. Instead of sending her into a tailspin, the
steady stream of blows offer a chance to right her course and embrace the types
of change she’s spent so long resisting. Often, part of growing older means
shedding extraneous aspects of life; we’re still ourselves, but in a more
concentrated, streamlined form.
Nathalie spends more time with her handsome former student
and protégé, Fabien (Roman Kolinka), who’s grown more
radicalized over the years. She visits him at the countryside farmhouse he
shares with his fellow anarchists, and spending time with Fabien and his
cohorts allows her to recognize that her radical days are behind her — and more
importantly that she’s fine with that.
As with “Elle,” Huppert plays a woman dealing with some rather
traumatic life experiences (also like “Elle,” she shares much of her screen
time with a feline costar), and the actor gives a performance that’s every bit
the equal to her work in that film. But where a certain chilliness defined that
previous role, here Huppert is vital and vibrant. Nathalie strives to let the
indignities roll off her back, and we see the stings they leave behind. But for
all the vulnerability she displays, Huppert lets her strength shine through,
assuring us that Nathalie is a woman who will make it through no matter what
life throws her way. It’s a remarkable performance from an actress who just
keeps getting better with each passing year.
This article appears in The Smallest Minority.
