Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Watching the 1970s set French drama, Annie Col ère ( Angry Annie ), I experienced a sense of d éjà vu. In it, a thirty-something married mother of two procures an abortion, joins an illegal group, and starts performing abortions herself. Didn’t I watch this last week with Call Jane ? Director Blandine Lenoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Axelle Ropert, spent five years on the project, researching the work of MLAC – the Movement for the Liberation [Freedom] of Abortion and Contraception, which led to the legalisation of abortion in France in 1975. She has made the better film, only accidentally finding timeliness – as Call Jane did – with the overturning this year of Roe vs Wade in the United States, which once again criminalised the termination of pregnancies in large swathes of the country. Set in a small village, Lenoir’s film deals with a nervous mother, Annie (Laure Calamy) who seeks help from her local MLAC and, like the protagonist in Call Jane , finds herself joining...

  Aurore , co-written and directed by Blandine Lenoir, is the opposite of a high concept film. It is about a fifty year old separated mother of two, Aurore (Agnès Jaoui, a noted director herself – her latest, Place Publique, opens in France on 18 April) who experiences the menopause. It is a reflection on middle-age: warm, funny, rhapsodic, even a bit rude and edgy. It doesn’t have much of a plot, but it’s got everything else. The film revolves around four women: Aurore, her best friend, Mano (Pascale Arbillot) and Aurore’s two adult daughters, Marina (Sarah Suco) and Lucie (Lou Roy-Lecollinet).   Marina is expecting her first child and wants everything to revolve around her. Lucie, who has a boyfriend, Tim (Théo Cholbi) is chilled, though requires frequent reminders whilst having sex that Maman is home. Aurore frequently finds herself absently removing a layer of clothing to stay cool. She has a lot to heat up about. Her new boss, Seb (Nicolas Chupin, a Johnny Depp lookalik...