La Separation | 
 enlarge | Director: Christian Vincent
Actors: Isabelle Huppert, Daniel Auteuil, Jérôme Deschamps, Karin Viard, Laurence Lerel
Studio: Fox Lorber
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $7.09
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 73018
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 85
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1572526084
UPC: 720917512327
EAN: 9781572526082
ASIN: B00000JJHF
Theatrical Release Date: 1994
Release Date: September 7, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED!!!!!
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Description
Pierre and Anne have been married for several years. They have slowly started to grow apart. One night after a party, Anne tells Pierre that she is in love with another man. Although her admission is not surprising, Pierre's reaction is. This seemingly commonplace story is told in a modern, sharp, intimate style, allowing two remarkable actors to express a complex range of emotions. Full Filmographies, Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Production Credits, Widescreen Format 1.85:1
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
A subtle and intelligent film in a world of dumbed-down movies. October 6, 2007
Based on the novel Separation by Dan Franck, La Séparation is a 1994 French romantic drama directed by Christian Vincent, starring two of my favorite French actors, beautiful Isabelle Huppert and sad-eyed Daniel Auteuil as Anne and Pierre. After refusing to hold his hand at a movie, Anne confesses to Pierre that she thinks she has fallen in love with someone else. "Maybe I expect too much out of life," she says in an attempt to justify her infidelity. She tells Pierre her lover is someone who "pays attention" to her. His reaction is surprising. Initially Pierre accepts the news with composure, as if affairs are a fact of life. "Every couple goes through crises," a friend reassures him. "It's normal." But soon his relationship with Anne deteriorates, even though on the surface they appear to be a happy couple. Soon, little quarrels escalate into public outbursts. Pierre contemplates leaving Anne and their 18-month-old son, nicknamed Loulou. He also considers throwing Anne out of their shared flat. The film ends with a poignant scene of Pierre wandering the streets of Paris, lost in his emotions. In conveying the full range of emotions associated with a crumbling relationship, Huppert and Auteuil bring superb performances to this film. La Séparation is an example of one of the things I enjoy most about French cinema: in a world of dumbed-down movies, all the action in this film takes place in its subtleties and intelligence. Recommended.
G. Merritt
 Boooooooring May 1, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I recoomend this movie to people with insomnia. It is slooow, the male character is shallow, immature, and the premise that the woman would have an affair and all would be the same back home is ludicrous.
Isabelle Huppert And Daniel Auteuil At Their Best November 1, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is one of the finest acted movies I've ever seen...but, in my opinion, it has a somewhat uninvolving story. La Separation features two great actors, Isabelle Huppert as Anne and Daniel Auteuil as Pierre, in a one hour and 25 minute story of a marriage that dissolves for no one reason but many small reasons. In one scene they are lying, fully clothed, in bed after Anne has returned from seeing her lover, although it is unclear if Anne and the man made or have ever made love.
"What did I do wrong?" asks Pierre.
"Nothing," Anne says.
"You won't say?"
"It's nothing specific. Just a lot of little things."
"Tell me."
"I don't know," Anne says. "Maybe we didn't talk enough. By not talking we put up with things we shouldn't have."
"You could have told me."
"I did."
"Not like this."
"I did in a different way. You just wouldn't listen...it's just...I met someone who listens to me... who's interested in me...who pays attention to me. That's all."
The story is told more from Pierre's point of view. He discusses things with two friends. He makes videotapes of his 11-month-old son and records his sad realization that these tapes will probably be the closest he'll be to his son after the divorce. At first he's calm and puzzled, but then begins to seethe with frustration and hopelessness. Anne in her way loves him, but has come to learn that marriage to Pierre will eventually drown her in...nothing; less passion, less feeling.
Auteuil's Pierre is something of a sad sack. He always needs a shave. He seems to have few emotional resources. His love for his young son is palpable. He'll see the boy two weekends a month, but knows that will never be enough to really be in his son's life. Huppert, as usual, is a master at demonstrating less is more. She shows less emotion, her motives are, on the surface, perhaps egocentric. As we realize what Anne's life has become, however, Huppert demonstrates the longing for something more...with a glance, a tentative motion to touch Pierre on the shoulder, a flash of exasperation. She's not heartless, she may not entirely know what she wants, but with Pierre she has come to know what she doesn't want. As one character says, "With a couple, one suffers and the other one's bored, and vice versa."
Why do I think the movie is somewhat uninvolving? Because the story-line goes straight from A (We see Anne pull her hand away from Pierre when he reaches out to touch her and she later tells him he irritated her) to Z (The divorce has been granted and we last see Pierre, scruffy as usual, wandering at night lost amongst some small streets trying to catch a cab). There are no surprises, no expectations and, in my view, just an overly film-ish look at the marriage's disintegration. For the most part, Anne and Pierre are just too civilized about everything, and all the doors to explore are closed by the conventions of the film. Could Pierre really not shape himself up, or at least try? Is Anne really as committed to a new life without Pierre as she seems? We never meet the other man, and toward the end of the movie he's no longer a factor in the plot. Although we learn that the divorce conditions will strongly favor the wife, could Pierre not privately work out with Anne much more contact with their son?
With all that said, Huppert and Auteuil are the heart of the film. They are so subtle and so authentic that I was completely caught up in the feelings of their characters -- and only later after a second viewing was I really aware of the job they were doing. These two actors make this movie worth watching.
The DVD looks just fine.
The End of Something February 12, 2003
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
Well if you are going through a break-up of your own and you want some company then this film is for you. The actors are what drew me to the film. Isabelle Huppert has been in at least a dozen great films including The Piano Teacher and Merci Pour Le Chocolat. I would recommend both of those films to anyone. She can play enigmatic very well. In her best roles though we eventually start to see glimpses into just what makes her enigmatic characters tick. In this role there is enigma but not enough glimpses behind the facade. She just plays a generic unhappy wife. Anne(Huppert) just stares at her husband (Auteuil) as if waiting for him to react in the opening scenes when she reveals she has fallen in love with someone else. One doesn't sense this woman is capable of feeling passion for anything though. The new love doesn't give her life any added spark. It seems more like a diversion from facing what the real problem is. It seemed to me the real problem was that Huppert's character felt nothing for anyone. This is partly because of the kind of actress Huppert is--remote. And when Huppert's character does express some belated emotion toward the end of the picture it seems forced. Other directors have used this remote quality that Huppert has to great effect by offering us clues as to why she became that way but in this film shes just remote. Auteuil is fine. He is an actor who never hits a wrong note. What he portrays time and again is the lone brooding and quietly suffering type. He can play intense, in fact his characters are always intense, but his intensity is an inward intensity. There is not much chemistry between Huppert and Auteuil. For a movie about a break-up thats perfectly alright but its hard to imagine what these two characters ever shared and so it is hard to feel remorse that the relationship has runs its course. What is interesting is that though the passion between them is gone they still rely on each other because they know each other so well. And what is sad is that Huppert's affair though it turned out to be meaningless was enough to ruin a friendship which meant more to both of them than either of them ever knew until it was too late. The film is decidedly downbeat in its uncompromising look at a couples dissolution. And an honest film about such a topic could be no other way.
 Very real... July 11, 2002
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Daniel Auteuil. Need I say more? I love him! If he is in a film, you can sure bet it is going to be a picture filled with depth and substance. He is one of my favorite actors, right up there with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. After you see this one, buy "The Girl on the Bridge", and see Auteuil show off his outstanding capability of playing a wide varitey of acting roles. One of the BEST in the profession!
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