One of the great auteurs of French cinema, Philippe Garrel tackles the politics of sex, life, and cinema in this fresh and self-aware story of a Parisian filmmaker’s infidelity.
Pierre is a documentarian who is collaborating on a project on French resistance during WWII with his wife Manon. She is loyal and steadfast, but his detachment wears on her and she can’t help but let him know. While doing research at a film archive, he meets and begins an affair with a young intern. At first he finds respite from his constraining wife, but soon his selfishness and ego get in the way of this romance as well. Now Pierre is trapped in two unhappy relationships. But Manon has secrets of her own that bring him to some much-needed introspection. Co-written with legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, In the Shadow of Women pulls no punches when it comes to putting Pierre’s narcissism on display. Shot on luscious 35mm black-and-white film in a timeless Paris, Garrel recalls the Nouvelle Vague with a modern sensibility, deftly exploring infidelity with both dry wit and genuine empathy.
DIRECTOR: Philippe Garrel CAST: Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Lena Paugam LANGUAGE: French COUNTRY: France YEAR: 2015 LENGTH: 73 min
