Story of Women (1988)
Claude Chabrol’s film stars the indefatigable Isabelle Huppert as Marie Latour, a complex character based on Marie-Louise Giraud.
The screenplay is largely based on the 1986 book Une affaire de femmes by Francis Szpiner.
Grade: B+ (**** out of *****)
Story of Women | |
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French | Une affaire de femmes |
The Premise:
Under the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Paul Latour is a prisoner of war in Germany and his wife Marie lives hand-to-mouth with their two children in squalid flat. A neighbor, whose husband is also in Germany, is trying to lose her baby, and Marie helps her successfully. Soon, other women come to her and she starts charging them for her service.
Latour was the last woman to be guillotined in France, on July 30, 1943, after being convicted for her illegal work as an abortionist (reportedly 27 times) in the Cherbourg area.
This gripping tale about an enterprising housewife who begins performing abortions in her kitchen to support her family in Vichy France is made all the better by Huppert’s resolute, unapologetic, and unnerving performance.
Huppert was deservedly named best actress at the Venice Film Fest, where the film world premiered.
Chabrol’s layered tale resists sentimentalizing or explaining Latour’s work, resulting in an absorbing portrait of a woman trying to make ends meet, and in the process providing much needed services to other women.