THE LACEMAKER Movie Review

La Dentielliere

A shy young assistant at a beauty shop (Isabelle Huppert) and the student she falls in love with (Yves Beneyton) seem perfectly matched at the deserted Normandy resort where they meet. Upon their return to Paris, however, the myriad differences between them begin to reveal themselves one by one, creating, like the delicate lace the girl makes, a thinly transparent but very real barrier between them. The Lacemaker's conclusion, inevitable perhaps, but shocking nevertheless, completes a briefly blazing arc for the troubled woman at the film's center; her character's gradual descent into an intolerable emotional whirlpool is richly and indelibly drawn by Huppert and Swiss director Claude Goretta, even while they use the most delicate of brushstrokes. This 1977 movie was Huppert's breakthrough film; it became a major hit on the international film festival circuit, and created brief but widespread fame for its director.

NEXT STOP … The Wonderful Crook, Violette, Une Femme Douce

1977 107m/C FR SI GE Isabelle Huppert, Yves Beneyton, Florence Giorgetti, Anna Marie Duringer; D: Claude Goretta. LV, Letterbox HMV, CRC