Looking for Hortense

Looking for Hortense

2012 · 100 min · FR · 5.6 (71 votes)
Dir. Pascal Bonitzer · Starring Jean-Pierre Bacri, Kristin Scott Thomas, Isabelle Carré, Marin Orcand Tourres, Arthur Igual, Jackie Berroyer · Music Alexei Aigui

“When you're looking for someone, you've got to find yourself first.”

DramaComedy

Damien, a Chinese civilization professor, lives with his wife, Iva, a stage director, and their son Noé. The couple's relationship has drifted into routine that has drained it of love. Damien finds himself trapped one day by Iva, who orders him to ask his father, a senior member of the French Council of State, for help in preventing Zorica, a woman Iva knows, from being deported. But Damien and his father don't get on and are barely ever in touch with each other. This dangerous mission throws Damien into a spiral that will turn his life upside down.

VIBE

A quiet, observational drama about the suffocating weight of routine and the slow erosion of love. It captures the mundane despair of a marriage stuck in a rut, punctuated by moments of dark, ironic humor. Feels like a sigh.

melancholiccynicalwrydismalslow-burnEuropean arthousecharacter studynaturalisticdisenchantmentroutinefamilybureaucracy
husband wife relationship