Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Claudio Carvalho The middle-age detective Michèle Varin (Josiane Balasko) is a troubled and depressed woman in therapy because of the death of her eight years son four years ago. She has many nightmares, all of them related to death, and she has thought in committing suicide. When she is assigned to investigate the murder of a woman found hanging on a tree in the woods suggesting suicide, she becomes obsessed by the case. During the investigations, her state of mind gets worse and she confuses nightmares with reality.I saw "Cette Femme-là" with great expectation, attracted by the César award indication of Josiane Balasko and the dark cover of the DVD. The development of the story is not totally bad, but the confused conclusion is very disappointing. I did not understand the reason of the murder of Varin's partner and the messy last scene of the puzzle suggesting that she had just imagined the whole plot. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Face do Medo" ("The Face of the Fear")

tinome The body of a young woman is found in the woods. It looks like a suicide, but Detective Michèle Varin thinks otherwise. Meanwhile, robbers terrorize the countryside... While the case is progressing , Varin soon finds herself dealing with demons of her own. Once again.During the course of the seventies (and early eighties), France produced very interesting polars and noirs (Simenon was a big winner at this). I couldn't help but think of that period while watching "Cette femme-là". Although the setting is contemporary (somewhere in semi-rural France), the story would have fit perfectly in the above mentioned period... but it would have been a huge lost for moviegoers, since this one stars the uniquely gifted Josiane Balasko.Ms Balasko is usually known as a comic, farcical actress. She's behind the very successful "Gazon maudit", as writer-director-star. But here is an altogether different actress, one of dept and substance. Her work in this picture, as a low-profile yet effective police-detective, is all nuances and carefully modulated expressions. Like Charlotte Rampling's character in "Sous le sable", Balasko's is one of interiority. Literally. She has build for herself an almost alternate life, an inner life, and much of the movie takes place there. That choice of narration makes for a complex storytelling, a storytelling that choose to have the murder-mystery part taking the backseat while the ambiguity of the reality vs phantasm is played full blast.It takes quite a load of talent to pull off such a stunt, and director Guillaume Nicloux acquits himself quite nicely with a richly textured approach. But the real stand-out here is Balasko who, while speaking very few words, delivers a powerhouse performance. In less talented hands, this character could have been downright repellent, but here, one actually feels for that somewhat embittered woman. Somber, but ô so rewarding.

writers_reign Anyone seeing this film and unaware of Balasko's 50 plus previous films, 18 of which she wrote including the six she wrote and directed would probably find it hard to believe that she is best known as a comedienne. Helmer Guillaume Nicloux appears to have a penchant for persuading ex-members of l'equipe Splendid to appear in polars having started in his last film, Un Affaire Privee, with Thierry Lhermitte (who turns up here in a neat cameo) and now with Balasko. Nicloux doesn't like to make it easy for the audience which means the mentally sub-teens who feel naked without a family-size tub of popcorn would do well to avoid this one. Although Balasko's Michele Varin is described as a detective it is the audience who need to do the lion's share of detecting, for one thing Balasko is never really shown in anything resembling a police station, she SAYS she's a flic and occasionally she flashes the tin and is seen in the odd conversation with uniformed cops but that's about it as far as confirmation goes. She is acutely depressed since the death of a young child and Nicloux playfully or even wilfully allows us to speculate Pirandello-like just what is real and what is not; the thinking-man's polar already. Thierry Lhermitte even reprises his private heat role from Une Affaire Privee allowing further speculation that his case in THAT movie and the suicide/murder that kicks of THIS one are tenuously connected and Nicloux clouds the issue further in one of those end captions to the effect that the case was never solved. Ultimately the crime or lack of same is of far less moment than what is going on in Balasko's psyche. It's a stunning performance and puts her up there with France's finest actresses and there's no greater praise than that.

abisio `Cette-femme la ` is a surprising thriller. Different to anything you see lately. The movie plays with the spectator, instead of letting be just a witness; and in the game is comes the over the top suspense. A forty plus years old police officer, is in a highly depressive state due to his son dead years ago. We never know exactly how, but it seems guilt is all over her.In one anniversary, Michele (the outstanding Josianne Balasko) becomes more and more obsessed with suicide. Everything around her seems to suggest it is time to end her life. A mysterious crime in the forest, turn up a series of coincidences and deaths, that we are never sure if they are real or in the woman's mind.The movie becomes darker every second, but it is better not explain more, otherwise it will ruin the perfectly crafted suspense. Just a comment; as in another outstanding thriller (`Skin Deep' from the Peruvian director Lombardi), the police plot is secondary to the real story in the movie.