Mema-reviews

L’Avenir (translated, “Things to Come”) 2016, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve A philosophy professor divorces her husband, re-acquaints with her favorite student, and starts a new life during these transitions. The French fascinate me in that they can be so detached and emotional at the same time, like the scene when Nathalie Chazeaux (Isabelle Huppert) learns of her husband’s infidelity. “I thought you’ve loved me forever,” Nathalie says to him, then she gets back to her classroom as if nothing had happened. No caterwauling, no slapping of the face—the suffering is subdued, hidden, and repressed. She takes time off to join her former student, now a courageous political writer, in the countryside. She sends her bipolar mother to a nursing home, as if to emphasize that the old has gone, the new has come. She brings her charming cat, Pandora, with her. One can wish for better life for her as she starts anew. Rating: 3.25/5 Elle 2016, directed by Paul Verhoeven I don