Film Reviews

Potiche

• Rating:
• Director: Francois Ozon
• Starring: Catherine Deneuve
• Details: France / 103mins (15A).

You never know which Francois Ozon will turn up. It could be the cynical, depressing Ozon of 5x2 or it could be the whimsical Ozon of 8 Women. For Potiche, it's the latter Ozon but reading the synopsis it sounds like the former. It's all in the tone.
It's 1977 but the feminist movement has passed Suzanne Pujol (Deneuve) by: the daughter of an umbrella factory owner who was loved by his workers, Suzanne has handed the reins over to her domineering, philandering and mean husband Robert (Luchini). When he is attacked by his disgruntled workers during a strike, Suzanne is forced to take control of the factory and, for the first time ever, her life. With the help of secretary Nedage (Viard), who is having an affair with Robert, and Robert's sworn enemy, the pinko mayor Maurice (Depardieu), Suzanne makes sweeping changes to the work conditions. But Robert wants back in and moves to split his family down the middle to get what he wants.
It sounds all serious, doesn't it? It's not, and Ozon wants us to know that as early as the first scene: Deneuve jogs through a wood to a Disney-esque soundtrack and blows kisses at the forest creatures. Thetone, that of a nonsensical sex farce, renders the pro-feminist and anti-capitalist message silly. By the close, caring what happens one way or another is tough.
Deneuve's Suzanne is an interesting character, however. She writes poetry. She loads the dishwasher with a smile and a dance. Robert forgets her birthday and she reacts with a shrug of the shoulders. When asked if she happy, Suzanne replies: "I'm happy… I made my mind up to be." The world and its troubles cannot touch her. AndDeneuve has a ball playing her. Like Suzanne she glides through the movie's silliness without allowing the nonsense touch her. After all these years, Denueve, whom Jack Lemmon once called 'a real woman', still has presence in front of camera and despite the lacklustre shenanigans happening around her she shines through.

Review by Gavin Burke