This is my introduction to the young French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve, and I must admit the introduction was made possible by Isabelle Huppert. Huppert, one of our greatest living screen actors, is such a splendid, brilliant screen presence, with a power akin to Daniel Day-Lewis but also with a tenderness that few can equal. That she can be so splendidly affable in Things To Come while winning numerous critics awards for her ferocious work in the much more provocative Elle is the ultimate testament to the legendary French actress. Things to Come isn’t as showy a film as Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, but I think it’s a better film. Hansen-Løve’s film is a modest portrait of a philosophy professor (Huppert) as she approaches middle age, all while being abandoned by her husband of twenty-five years (André Marcon), dealing with her mentally ill mother (Edith Scob), and handling the arrival of a former student and protégé (Roman Kolinka) who presents an excitement that she hasn’t experienced in decades. Hansen-Løve is so patient with this story, so sweet and loving toward its characters, especially Huppert’s professor, who is a woman of great intellect and emotional strength who finds herself tested at a time when she thought all of her tests were behind her. Things to Come is bittersweet, true to life, and without much in the way of vanity. Hansen-Løve’s film isn’t particularly striking cinematically, but the screenplay is strong, supported by a cast which, led by Huppert, makes a charming piece about intellectuality, and how it cannot rescue you from the traumas of everyday life.

 

Written and Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve