Brussels-based director Joachim Lafosse is at his best when he focuses his microscope on deranged, intimate situations. He studies them with the unsentimental accuracy of a scientist, and dramatises them with the artistry of a craftsman who knows the secrets of cinema.
In L’économie du couple, Bérénice Bejo and Cédric Kahn give lively performances as a couple who after fifteen years together are bored of one another and have (temporary?) difficulty imagining that they ever loved each other. Financial issues bring the tension to a head. Marie earns more and owns their house. Boris invested a lot of time in renovating the house and doesn’t have the money or inclination to live elsewhere. Their spectacle is not pretty. Twin daughters are silent witnesses to the violence the parents inflict on one another. The impressive thing about this Brussels Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is that the viewer can observe everything from a distance. This allows you to see beyond the pain, sadness, and the very real economic problem. The situation is hopeless but not grave.
L'ÉCONOMIE DU COUPLE
BE, 2016, dir.: Joachim Lafosse, act.: Bérénice Bejo, Cédric Kahn, Marthe Keller, 100 min.
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