Valley of Love, 2015.
Directed by Guillaume Nicloux.
Starring Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Huppert and Dan Warner.
SYNOPSIS:
An estranged married couple meet at a resort village near Death Valley. Their son committed suicide six months ago, leaving letters asking both of them to be in the national park on specific days, because he’ll re-appear to them. So they put their personal animosity aside out of respect for his wishes.
A woman drags her wheeled suitcase on the long, hot walk to her room on a remote resort village. The camera follows her from behind and the jangling strings of the soundtrack make you anticipate either a thriller or a horror. But it’s a red herring and it’s not the first in this perplexing film. When we eventually see her face, we realise she’s Isabelle Huppert. The following day, she reluctantly meets up with Gerard Depardieu.
Valley of Love is the first time these two leading lights of French film acting have shared the screen since 1980 (Loulou, directed by Maurice Pialat). Time has taken its toll on both of them and director Guillaume Nicloux lets his camera linger so we’re left in no doubt of the effect of time. It’s been kinder to Huppert but, as she wears little or no make-up, we can see the lines of age on her face. Depardieu, on the other hand, is enormous with a girth of epic proportions that droops over his shorts when he is shirtless – which is often. And his weight means he suffers in the heat and complains about it constantly. Nicloux also has his little joke by naming their characters Isabelle and Gerard and making them both actors.
How much they’re playing themselves is left to you to decide. But there’s a familiarity between them, one that comes from spending years together: even thought they’ve been separated for some time, they can say just about anything to each other. Like Huppert telling Depardieu he’s fat. She qualifies that by adding that, if he’s happy, that’s all that matters. He counters by asking if she really thinks he could be happy being the size he is. Their differences are all still there, so they bicker regularly, but he still adores her.
But despite their changed circumstances – she’s re-married but that relationship is now on the rocks, while he’s single and lonely – they’re in the same boat. Neither of them had seen or spoken to their son for some time – seven years, in Huppert’s case. They’re both wracked with guilt, feeling responsible for his suicide, even though his letters to them don’t offer an explanation one way or another.
It’s a solemn little film – with themes like guilt, grief and estrangement, it’s not going to be a barrel of laughs – but it’s not depressing or miserable. There are moments of bleak humour, one in particular when the cliché of an actor being recognized by a member of the public is turned mischievously on its head. The story is set against a harsh background – the searing heat, the faceless resort village with its anonymous chalets, the barren beauty of Death Valley itself, the alien food – so all the couple have is each other.
Whether or not the son does come back is one of the most enigmatic and puzzling aspects of the film. His mother believes he does, although the evidence is scant. And, as they keep to their son’s schedule and turn up at their various rendezvous, the audience finds itself watching for signs that could be him – a dog that dashing in front of them, for instance. It’s never made clear and the ending is just plain obscure.
But Depardieu and Huppert are both superb in what is, essentially, a two hander. Depardieu is surprisingly the more sympathetic, and sometimes the more pathetic, of the two. His eyes say it all when he looks at his ex, but ut it’s not reciprocated. The untimely death of their son is the only reason they’re re-united. The film is an actor’s piece, with two nuanced performances full of subtlety, honesty and delicacy. If only all that talent had been poured into a stronger, more satisfying story.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Freda Cooper – Follow me on Twitter, check out my movie blog and listen to my podcast, Talking Pictures.
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Originally published August 10, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
