OPENING NIGHT GALA – 2019 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SPECIAL PRESENTATION – 2019 TORONTO INTERNTATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
After the global success of the Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters, master auteur Kore-eda Hirokazu’s wry and charming new dramedy THE TRUTH pairs beloved Academy Award nominees Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche for the first time, as a celebrated actress and her estranged daughter whose tentative reunion offers an opportunity to either repair or irrevocably fracture their relationship.
Fabienne (Deneuve) is a star; a much loved, larger-than-life icon of French cinema. When she publishes her memoirs, her screenwriter daughter Lumir (Binoche) returns to Paris from New York for the occasion, with her struggling actor husband Hank (Ethan Hawke) and their inquisitive young daughter Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) in tow. It comes as no surprise to Lumir that everything in her grand childhood home still revolves around her mother, and as she begins to read Fabienne’s book it becomes clear it’s riddled with omissions and embellishments – especially with regard to her relationship with the great artistic rival of her past, Sarah Mondavan.
Fabienne herself has no time for explanations and small talk; she’s preparing for her next film, a science-fiction drama, cast alongside a rising new talent (Manon Clavel) touted as ‘the next Sarah Mondavan’. When Fabienne’s long-suffering assistant unexpectedly quits, she and Lumir are reluctantly forced into an awkward working relationship, with Lumir revisiting the same film studios where she spent countless hours as a child. As the on and off-set worlds begin to amusingly – and movingly – intertwine, suppressed emotions can no longer be kept in check…
With a keen knowledge and love of French cinema, Kore-eda lends this hugely enjoyable film the observant, tender eye audiences have come to cherish. Warmly compared to Olivier Assayas’ exquisite Summer Hours by multiple critics upon its Venice premiere, THE TRUTH is a very special cinema experience: a gentle, sly and moving exploration of reality and fiction, family, performance, and the great spectacle of life. It’s a love letter to mothers and daughters everywhere.
