One Fine Morning, 2022.
Written & Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve.
Starring Léa Seydoux, Melvil Poupaud, Pascal Greggory, and Nicole Garcia.
SYNOPSIS:
With a father suffering from neurodegenerative disease, a young woman lives with her eight-year-old daughter. While stuggling to secure a decent nursing home, she runs into a friend who although being in a relationship, embarks an affair.
French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve has been an acclaimed voice in independent cinema for a number of years, behind 2016’s Things To Come and earning plaudits for 2021’s Bergman Island starring Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps. Her latest film is One Fine Morning, which sees her return to Paris and revolves around single mother Sandra played by Lea Seydoux as she struggles to care for her ailing father and balance her new romance with married man Clément (Melvil Poupaud).
The dual narrative splitting focus between Sandra’s father and her relationship with Clément is expertly handled and blends tones quite nicely, preventing the ailment affecting Georg to be too overbearing and bringing a lightness of touch and humour to the film.
Seydoux’s performance is charming and a joy to behold, showing her ability to light up the screen with her smile and laugh one moment and be desperately sad the next, she is able to communicate so much just through her facial expressions. The performances across the board help make this an affecting piece of work that works in subtle ways; Melvil Poupaud shares fine chemistry with Seydoux and acts as a fine counterpart while youngster Camille Leban Martins as Sandra’s daughter Linn is a joy and brings many lighter moments and an innocence of youth to help relieve some of the strains from Sandra’s fathers condition.
The characters feel incredibly natural and moments of humour only help to make them feel more human this is helped by incredible chemistry across the board to really sell the effect of Georg’s illness and the ramifications of putting him in a home for the whole family and the risks Clément is taking in embarking on an affair with Sandra.
The unglamorous depiction of Paris works to the film’s credit; with these being Parisians we see them going about their daily lives, walking the streets and taking Georg to care homes, a far cry from the more picturesque image Hollywood often paints. This more ground level look at Paris compliments the melancholic tone the film strives for and we do see glimmers of some of Paris’ landmarks towards the film’s end.
One Fine Morning’s subtlety is to its credit; where other films might take a more kitchen sink approach here this is calm and reserved but no less impactful. The changing seasons help keep the film interesting and showing it charts the course of a year through subtle changes in clothing and weather, again highlighting that these are ordinary people going about their lives and depicting the passage of time in Georg’s illness and Sandra and Clément’s relationship.
One Fine Morning is a subtle, tender film that captures a more realistic, mundane take on Parisian life and going about your daily business. The performances are understated yet keep the film from falling into cliche or tiredness and Léa Seydoux especially continues to prove her worth as a leading actor. It is an affecting look at relationships cleverly contrasting Sandra’s relationship with her father and Clément. Perhaps more accessible than say Bergman Island this is an understated gem well worthy of audiences’ time.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Connor
