Story of Women

sarah5.0

hail mary, full of shit. rotten is the fruit of your womb. infuriating. isabelle huppert really is the best actress in the world

₳ⱠØⱠ3.5

let isabelle huppert's character be gay you cowards

theriverjordan4.0

With a documentarian’s dedication, director Claude Chabrol sets out to tell in less than two hours the entire “Story of Women,” through the experience of a single one of their sex. That one, though — is played by Isabelle Huppert. Of course, Chabrol is not necessarily as ambitious as his title portends, in this historic fiction work about a French woman who becomes an underground abortionist during the Nazi occupation of France. It is, rather, the strife of this woman in this time that more widely reflects upon them as a whole. There is much dabbling in the line between sacrifice and self-service in “Story of Women.” Huppert’s character begins her work as an abortionist in good faith, as a favour to a friend. This transforms, though, into a goodness that is rendered with benefits, as she makes a tidy profit from her black market occupation. While Huppert is reviled and persecuted for what is deemed a form of murder, there is little of the same judgement passed for her countrymen, who gorge themselves in passivity as the Nazis settle into the womb of their nation. Chabrol’s has not a tint of rosy romance towards the revolutionaries, nor does he pursue an all too easy-demonisation of the fascists in the film. This refusal to fall so simply into a division of morality delineates him from his colleague Truffaut in their creation of Second World War films. Chabrol plots the vast narrative and emotions of “Story of Women” with the same straight face as he did his cinematic murders and failed marriages. In all cases, the deeds are laid plain and clear. It is left to the viewer to decide if, and who, has actually committed a crime. Or is it only a a sin?