Review of Violette (2013) by Lucile D — 21 May 2014

Frankly I did not expect much and I was pleasantly surprised. The film relates several chapters of Violette Leduc's life, one of France most striking writers in the past century, and in particular her relationship with Simone de Beauvoir.

It is not the first time Martin Provost makes a biographical film about a relatively unknown artist. His "Séraphine" focused on the life of Séraphine Louis, a painter in the naïve style.

Both actresses were absolutely stunning: Emmanuelle Devos (previously seen in Rois et Reine) for Violette and Sandrine Kiberlain ("Mademoiselle Chambon") for Simone. The role of Violette's mother also, interpreted by Catherine Hiegel ("la vie est un long fleuve tranquille"), will be remembered.

I was pleasantly surprised indeed because a lot of research had gone into the making of this film, in particular Violette's friendship with Jean Genet, and the remaking of the amateur film they did together: our writer as a mother pushing a pushchair in which... Jean Genet is the baby! The original is, unfortunately, lost for ever.

The complexity of the relationship with Simone de Beauvoir was also quite well related, though I wish they had mentioned the fact Simone used to call Violette 'la femme laide' (the ugly woman) and was perhaps less standoffish than the film was showing. And Violette's character also, she was, as Simone describes it in her books, absolutely unbearable with the girlfriends she was going out with. It was therefore a bit surprising to not see more of this, especially for the author of one of the most beautiful lesbian novels of all times ("Thérèse et Isabelle"). But overall, a good detailed account of one of the most modern French writers of the twentieth century, alongside Genet.