“Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert) is a philosophy professor, as is her husband, Heinz (André Marcon). She challenges her students with questions on the debatability of truth; drops everything at every phone call from her hypochondriac mother; bickers with her husband and banters with her young adult children; and goes out of her way to help a former pet student, Fabien (Roman Kolinka).
“One day Heinz announces he’s leaving her. Nathalie is shocked, hurt, but life goes on. After finally putting her mother in a home, she adopts her cat, fumes at flowers from her departed husband and opens up to Fabien, insisting: ’No reason to pity me. I’m lucky to be fulfilled intellectually. It’s enough to be happy.’
“’Vraiment?’ Fabien counters, skeptically. ’Quelle sagesse.’
“The rest of Hansen-Løve’s quietly moving film is an exploration of Nathalie’s assertion. What does a middle-aged woman do when the rug is pulled out from under her? No easy answers are provided. Time passes, the rest of her life marches on, she acts and reacts.
“Huppert gives a characteristically layered performance as a woman doing her best under difficult circumstances. As the indignities pile up, Nathalie is affected but refuses to be overwhelmed. She reaches out to Fabien, who has fallen in with a bunch of German anarchists. Conversations on the compatibility of action and thought ensue.
“Where more traditional narratives would provide some clear path or resolution for our heroine, Hansen-Løve prefers the open-ended approach. The result is a film that lingers, leaving room for the viewer to do the same.” - Montreal Gazette
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