Review of Abuse of Weakness (2013) by Eylem E — 06 Sep 2013

Catherine Breillat's films have always been autobiographical, often painfully so, and yet "Abuse of Weakness" cuts even closer to the marrow than the rest. Featuring iron-nerved Isabelle Huppert as the director's onscreen equivalent, a partly crippled French helmer named Maud, the uneasy-making story re-creates a situation in which the helmer cast a known con man to star in her next film, only to be swindled by him in the process.

Between its perverse power games and co-dependent sadomasochism, the almost frigidly unsentimental pic seems an ideal double bill with Roman Polanski's "Venus in Fur," but will likely prove too personal to attract much of an audience.