The challenging portrait of womanhood Orpheline is dominated by bright red lipstick. Whether they have just been released from prison, are teaching class, or are arriving at an appointment with a much older man, there is always this seductive accent on the women's lips.
But this somewhat headstrong film by Arnaud des Pallières (Michael Kohlhaas) focuses on female sexuality, male desire, the patriarchy, and the quest for freedom. Des Pallières's approach is disorienting. It looks as though he is telling the stories of four different female characters, but his naturalistic camera actually shows us one and the same woman at four different times in her life: as a child, teenager, young woman, and mother-to-be.
The fact that the superlative quartet of actresses do not all look alike reinforces this effect. Orpheline is a novelistic odyssey about the ambivalent life of a traumatised woman who continues to seek redemption undaunted. Intriguing.
> Orpheline. FR, 2016, dir.: Arnaud des Pallières, act.: Adèle Haenel, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Solène Rigot, 111 min.
> Release: 05/04
Read more about: Film
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