52 Films by Women Vol 6. 21. LA FRACTURE (The Divide) (Director: Catherine Corsini)
Director Catherine Corsini’s Paris-set comedy-drama, La Fracture (English title: ‘The Divide’) begins with the sound of snoring. At first you think, ‘it must be someone in the audience’. Then we see a twitchy foot emerging from the bottom of a duvet. The foot belongs to Raf (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), a needy cartoonist who is hammering out texts – I love the French word ‘texto’ – to her long-time and soon-to-leave-her partner, Julie (Marina Fo ï s). Raf qualifies the words she is writing, replacing one harsh descriptor with something more balanced. No sooner has she sent one text than she hammers out another, cancelling out the first. The joke is that the recipient is lying right next to her, snoring away. ‘Did you get my texts?’ Raf asks the next morning with perfect sweetness (Bruni Tedeschi does sweetness rather well). ‘What?’ replies Julie, ‘The one sent at 5:42, 5:46, or 5:48?’ Raf is clearly too much. She and Julie have fought before but Julie, who has decided to find her o...