This is truly an escapist indulgent recognition of one woman's multiple midlife challenges. Because it is set in France, it is both believable and enjoyable in every aesthetic detail. We enter the world of intellectuals living in book lined apartments, with amazing linen clothing. This film, L'Avenir, translated as
Things to come, has deservedly won the best director for Mia Hansen-Love at the 2016 Berlinale. It is an empowering film of the recreation of life from the pieces left in middle age...
Nathalie, played brilliantly by Isabelle Huppert, teaches philosophy to idealist and somewhat anarchistic Parisian teenagers. At home, she holds her 2 teenagers together with a distracted husband, and tends to her despairing drama queen mother. But her first bombshell reveals that her husband of 25 years is leaving her for a younger woman. She and Heinz are both philosophy teachers and books have been their bond; and the reason why she had thought he would always love her. "How naive of me," she reflects with resignation rather than bitterness.
Another challenge is brewing, in that her publishers drop her intellectual work from their list because she's neither young nor hip enough to suit their new marketing plan. And then her mother dies, through succumbing to the depression that has haunted her for years. Nathalie also realises that while she was once a radical, her students are challenging her bourgeoise life. She has to recognise that one of her star students has grown beyond her, to the point of being critical of what she stands for. She does not wallow in self-pity, but rather relies on her intellect in the midst of the ultimate unfairness around her. One of my favourite lines is “I’m lucky to be fulfilled intellectually — that’s reason enough to be happy”. Nathalie does not need to find another partner to be fulfilled, and is in fact very alone in many of the dark nights both literally and figuratively. Somehow, in her solitude, she finds her freedom, but without those she thought she might share it with. Finally, the film provides a sense of hope through her emotional limbo; “So long as we desire, we can do without happiness". Somehow she finds strength in her vulnerability. And in this french genre, it is so utterly believable and strangely enjoyable.
