Story of Women (1988) User Reviews

Compelling Portrait of Morality During Wartime: How Are Criminals Created?

[museumofdave · 9/10 · 4 April 2013]

This earns a high rating simply for the gritty, persuasive performance from it's star, Isabelle Huppert, who is called upon to be a mother and an abortionist, to be a lover and a murderer, to be a free spirit and a prisoner of Nazi tyranny; Huppert may never gain your sympathy, and doesn't play for it, but she should gain your understanding as she plays a true-to-life story of a woman severely punished by the French government for a woman's crime that the dominant culture can not countenance because of the political atmosphere at the time--all this, and it's a gripping story,too--but not at all a cheerer-upper.

When you have finished watching this film, you may find Huppert's character hasn't quite finished with you, an observant, quiet reminder of the consequences of our actions. Hers is a haunting performance.

A Sad Affair

[magdillane · 7/10 · 14 March 2006]

With cool detachment and a subtle touch of horror, Claude Chabrol dissects the story of a woman who was guillotined during the Nazi occupation of France. One of his strengths as a director is that he allows the movie goer to form his/her own thoughts and opinions about the issues at hand. He is not a proselytizer.

The film covers a lot of ground: illegal abortion, collaborating with the enemy, parenting, marital communication, greed and a slew of other human weaknesses. All of this against the backdrop of an occupied France, a country who witnessed the horrors of WWI and never fully recovered, and whose WWII soul (what is left of it) has been torn apart.

Isabelle Huppert does a fine job interpreting Marie LaTour, the woman in question. Marie is not the most sympathetic of characters. In fact, most of the major characters are not "sympathique".(My favorite character is the prostitute Lulu, acted by Marie Trintignant.)

All in all a well directed, well structured film about a tragic period in the lives of the French people. But you be the judge.

Trivia: "Vera Drake" and "L'Affaire de Femmes" both begin in apartments which have the the same god awful green walls.

second-class citizens

[mjneu59 · 8/10 · 5 January 2011]

Isabelle Huppert portrays an uneducated but self-reliant wartime mother of two, who almost ruthlessly assumes the traditional male role of family breadwinner by helping (to use an old euphemism) young girls 'in trouble'. The film isn't exactly impartial in its attitude toward the opposite sex, but don't me misled by the somewhat presumptuous title: it isn't strictly a story for women, and despite the vocation of its heroine has little to say about the volatile issue of abortion. The focus is more on the plight of women as second-class citizens, forced by necessity to fend for themselves (and rely on each other) while their men are away playing soldiers. It tells a complex story very simply, avoiding any soapbox grandstanding but allowing Huppert a chance to invest her character with plenty of gender-specific spleen. The final impact is undeniable: it's an often powerful experience, likely to stir up plenty of talk and emotion.

Abortion in Nazi-occupied France

[DennisLittrell · 10/10 · 3 January 2001]

Claude Charbrol's stark and unsentimental masterpiece about the last woman to be executed in France--she was guillotined for performing abortions in Nazi-occupied France during World War II--forces us to see a side of war not often depicted. What does a woman with two little children do when her country is occupied by the brute forces of the enemy? How is she to find enough to eat, to buy the increasingly scarce and costly necessities of life? How is she to find joy in life? Women often turn to prostitution during such times, but Maire Latour does not. Instead she aborts the foetuses of the prostitutes and of other women impregnated, often by the Nazis. In a sense this is her "resistence." However she prospers and takes up with a Nazi collaborator. In the process she reduces her husband to frustration and humiliation.

Isabelle Huppert as Marie Latour is mesmerizing in a role that allows her talent full latitude. She is clear-headed and sly as a business woman, warm and ordinary as a mother, cold and brutal as a wife, childish and careless as an adulteress, resourceful and fearless as an abortionist, and unrepentant as she awaits the executioner (foreshadowed, by the way, by her son, who wants to be an executioner when he grows up). Francois Cluzet plays her husband Paul, and he is also very good, especially at rousing our pity. Charbrol makes it clear that both Marie and Paul are victims, not only of war, but of their divergent natures. Paul wants the love of Marie, but she wants only a man that represents success and power, a man who is clean-shaven, not the menial worker that he is. Marie Trintignant is interesting and convincing as a prostitute who becomes Marie Latour's friend and business associate.

While abortion is indeed "Une affaire de femmes" this film is about much more than that. No doubt the title is there to emphasize Charbrol's point that men really do not (did not then, and do not now) really understand abortion and why it is sometimes a horrible and abject necessity. When Marie is taken to Paris for a show trial she exclaims to a woman in jail with her, referring to the court that will pass judgment on her, "It's all men...how could men understand?" We can see that men really can't, and that precisely is what this movie is all about: showing us just how horrible pregnancy can be under the circumstances of enemy occupation.

A secondary story here, not quite a subplot, is Paul's story. What does a man do when he and his children are dependent on a woman who doesn't love him, a woman who rejects him and even goes so far as to arrange for the cleaning woman to sleep with him? It is not only Marie who humiliates him, but it is the defeat of his country, the easy surrender to the Nazis that has so reduced him. This is made clear in a scene late in the film between two lawyers who voice their shame as Frenchmen in a time of defeat.

What Paul does is not pretty (and I won't reveal it here), but so great is the provocation that one understands his behavior and can forgive him.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

STORY OF WOMEN (Claude Chabrol, 1988) ***1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 8/10 · 20 May 2010]

Though I had owned this on VHS (recorded off French TV), I only opted to check it out now – after acquiring the film in a version accompanied by English subtitles, on the occasion of its director's birthday. While not a typical effort (being a period melodrama and based on fact to boot), in retrospect, it is justly considered among Chabrol's finest.

Star Isabelle Huppert (in one of her best performances, playing an essentially unsympathetic if pitiable type) received the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her work here. Interestingly, I would 'meet' Chabrol there in 2004 where the winning film that year happened to deal with the exact same subject as STORY OF WOMEN – the controversy regarding the practice of abortion, i.e. Mike Leigh's VERA DRAKE! Co-star Francois Cluzet, who acts pretty much as second-fiddle to Huppert in this case, would eventually come into his own under Chabrol's guidance in the similarly excellent L'ENFER (1994). The film, however, also provides a notable showcase for Marie Trintignant in the role of Huppert's prostitute friend; again, the actress would subsequently be promoted to lead status for the same director's BETTY (1992), which I have just watched and reviewed.

STORY OF WOMEN, then, makes for compelling viewing in several different keys: as a character study (Huppert wants to be a singer, refuses to sleep with her ex-P.O.W. husband but then takes a much younger lover, of course offers her services to girls 'in trouble' and ultimately renounces her faith while in prison), as a look at war-torn France (though the Nazis are hardly ever in the foreground, the hardships endured by the locals obviously have a lot to do with how they are 'forced' to behave) and as a critique, in the vein of Costa-Gavras' movies, of the justice system (there is no doubt Huppert was at fault but the punishment meted out, to set an example and uphold the country's moral rectitude to counter the dishonor of occupation, was too extreme). Oddly enough, once the husband exposes her to the authorities for rather selfish reasons to begin with, he basically exits the picture and is never shown feeling any kind of remorse.

For the record, Chabrol had already treated a cause célèbre in VIOLETTE NOZIERE (1978; which I will get to soon in my ongoing marathon, since I am actually approaching it in reverse chronological order!) and would do so again in the recent A GIRL CUT IN TWO (2007; that I have already viewed and commented upon).

Beyond any moral.

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 9 November 2002]

This is a true story and the heroine is not unlike Louis Malle's hero "Lacombe Lucien".They are too coarse,too immature to realize what they are doing.Lucien could have opted for the Resistance,but he's deemed too stupid by the schoolteacher and he winds up in Collaboration.Chabrol's heroine only wants to "help" her neighbors before she realizes she can earn a lot of dough with abortion.Chabrol watches his character as an entomologist,as she makes her way through those troubled times:the world has gone mad,and anyway is abortion worse than what the authorities are doing with the Jews ?Maréchal Petain's France was so humiliated that it tried to make up with it by focusing on "morality".

The heroine could make also think of Violette Nozières,another Chabrol movie which also featured Huppert.And she's also akin to Sandrine Bonnaire's character in "la cérémonie".All are women overtaken by events,all are victims of a well-meaning society,Chabrol's trademark. "Une affaire de femmes" is certainly a good work although it lacks the sweep and the directing innovations of his late sixties/early seventies classics.

If we ask for forgiveness, we might not go to hell.

[lastliberal · 8/10 · 15 September 2010]

Definitely one of director Claude Chabrol's best films, if not his best.

It is based upon a true story out of Nazi occupied France, and stars the incredible Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher, 8 Women). She is supported by Marie Trintignant (Harrison's Flowers), who had her career cut short by an untimely death.

Huppert finds a way to feed her family. She performs abortions and rents out rooms to prostitutes. Everything seems to be going well for her, but her husband is not happy about the fact that he hasn't had any in 10 years, and she now has a lover - he turns her in.

France is now rid of the Germans and is trying to restore her morality. Unfortunately, Marie to be made an example.

Huppert was great, and Trintigant was also very good.

An amazing film loosely based on the last woman in France to be guillotined. Her crime is performing abortions.

[kthnly · 18 October 2005]

I'd like to focus on this film as a French film, not of the United States. If one has seen "La Chagrin et la Pitie," then one knows the legacy of this film. France was not perfect during WWII. Not everyone in France was part of the resistance, mainly, they were trying to survive. I think its an amazing film that sheds light on a crucial point in French history. Yes, it's about abortion and Chabrol does a great job ensuring his abortionist is less than perfect. That's a wonderful point he makes, that no one is perfect, not even the moral majority of the government. But, I come away from this film with the same questions that I get from "Lacombe, Lucien," which are: 'what would I have done?' And, please, don't Monday morning quarterback World War II.

War!

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 20 July 2016]

Marie Latour, a woman of limited schooling, raises two children in a ratty flat during World War II in occupied France. In 1941, her husband Paul returns from German captivity, too weak to hold a job. Marie discovers she can make money performing abortions, using a soapy water douche. Many of her clients are knocked up by occupying Germans.

The film is based on the true story of Marie-Louise Giraud, guillotined on July 30, 1943, for having performed 27 abortions in the Cherbourg area, and oddly enough has been embraced by John Waters. Waters is typically known more for endorsing "Christmas Evil" than French cinema, but this just goes to show how diverse his love is.

I find it quite interesting that the French women are getting pregnant by German soldiers. While this is a frequent consequence of war (though hopefully diminishing), and virtually created modern Sicily, it is a rare thing to see it show up in a film. For that, I applaud them.

Marie LaTour Descends Into a Life of Evil

[allisonalmodovar · 8/10 · 3 May 2008]

(The spoilers are noted each time before they are revealed.) I once watched a special on Claude Chabrol's career. It said that his constant theme is people falling into crime so slow, so gradually, they wonder how they got there. It dawned on me that this fit most of his films. However, that description fits this movie most of all.

I think this was my second Chabrol film, so I didn't know what to expect at all. I don't even think I read the back cover. Isabelle Huppert plays a woman who begins to see Nazi forces at work right before WWII.

(Spoilers: First her Jewish friend is taken away. When money runs low, she beings performing abortions and renting out her home to prostitutes so she can have luxuries for her children during WWII. She has an affair and her husband turns her in out of jealousy. From being a normal mother, suddenly she finds herself on death row for committing several abortions on prostitutes. You almost feel sorry for her, until she remains unrepentant to the end.) Such an incredible performance, even though Isabelle Huppert's character is thoroughly unlikable. It is actually a true story, based on Marie La Tour (Spoiler: the last woman to receive the death penalty in France).

Is this Chabrol?

[jimmydavis-650-769174 · 7/10 · 2 September 2010]

As a great admirer of Chabrol's 'Helene cycle' of the late 60's and early 70's I approached this film with some trepidation, having been disappointed by some of his more recent work.

However I was pleasantly surprised, the film was nicely scripted and acted, period detail good and the whole felt taut and unsentimental. A previous reviewer seems surprised that Chabrol remains balanced in his views,however Chabrol often refuses to take sides and allows the viewer a freedom (almost unknown in moralising modern films)to make up their own mind. One only has to view the excellent 'Nada' to appreciate this.

I thought Isabelle Huppert was better here than in any other role i've seen her, partly because she managed to drop the somewhat smug persona she seems to bring to her roles. (yes i'm not a fan and wish Chabrol would turn his attention elsewhere). She played the central character as both cynical and devious, charmingly naive vindictive and finally empty and self loathing. A real acting masterclass.

Much as I enjoyed this film though it left me rather empty at the end, indeed there really was little I cared about, both in terms of character and plot. All the usual questions one feels need answering were absent, the curious unease and ambiguity gone. The Chabrol appeared to be absent from this nevertheless efficient and entertaining Claude Chabrol film.

An intense drama based on a true story

[robytdd · 8/10 · 21 December 2020]

Marie (Isabelle Huppert) helps women have abortions in Nazi-occupied France, which turns out to be an unexpected income. However, she was arrested and sentenced to death by the time's reactionary government, looking for public examples to give to the nation.

Marie Latour (in reality her real name was Marie-Louise Giraud), was the last woman to be guillotined in France. The film tells this tragic story with dry realism, both in terms of the dialogues and the era's accurate reconstruction.

The film was in competion at the Italian 1988 Venice Film Festival. Isabelle Huppert won the Coppa Volpi award for best female interpretation, while outside conservative Catholic associations clamoured for the film to be withdrawn from distribution, for Marie's desperate prayer before being beheaded, accused by them fanatic groups to be 'blasphemous'. The film was released anyway.

Une Affaire De Femmes (Story of Women)

[jboothmillard · 5/10 · 20 January 2013]

From director Claude Chabrol (Le Boucher), from the title it was no obvious what the story or plot of this French film would involve, but I was introduced to it because of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and if it featured in it that was good enough reason for me it a chance. Basically set in World War II, France is occupied by the Nazis, Marie Latour (Isabelle Huppert) is a mother with two children she raises in a decayed flat, she has limited education from her schooling, and her husband Paul (François Cluzet) who was on the front has returned home. Paul's weakness is causing him problems holding a job, so it is up to Marie to make money somehow to support the family, and she discovers a way to use soapy water douche as a way to abort unwanted babies of women, and she charges them for this service. Many of the women she performs abortions for have been impregnated by Germans occupying the country, and with the money she makes she can afford a new flat with more bedrooms, she also rents the bedrooms to prostitutes to take their clients during the day, and she can buy better food and new clothes. Eventually this good fortune turns sour when Paul becomes dismissive towards Marie because he knows what she has been doing for prostitutes and pregnant women, but she is keen to find another career in singing, but of course the authorities catch onto what she is up to, so she is arrested, and becomes one of the last women in France to be guillotined. Also starring Marie Trintignant as Lulu / Lucie and Nils Tavernier as Lucien. I did not realise it was based on a true story, but it makes sense when I think about it, because the harshness of the plot is realistic, and the way that it is played out is well done, the performance of Huppert is suitable for the character as well, it can be uncomfortable in moments, but it is an intriguing Second World War drama. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Worth watching!

Chabrol and Huppert at their best

[dromasca · 8/10 · 19 July 2023]

'Une affaire de femmes' (the English distribution title was 'Story of Women'), Claude Chabrol's 1988 film gives Isabelle Huppert the opportunity to create one of the most memorable roles of a formidable career. Chabrol, the director about whom Huppert would posthumously say that he filmed her like a father, sets his drama in the period of World War II and the occupation, bringing to screen the biography of the last woman to be sentenced to death and executed in the history of France. The charge was the practice of illegal abortions, and the exemplary punishment was a consequence of the moral and national decay of the Vichy collaborationist regime. The pro-life vs. Pro-choice are still current in many countries of the world today (not in France), but that is not the main theme of the film. In fact, Chabrol avoids any moral judgment on one side or the other of this dispute. His target is - as in many of his other films - the French bourgeoisie during the war, in one of the most abysmal periods of its history, a period marked by collaboration, corruption, immorality and hypocrisy.

The story takes place in the months and the first years after the defeat of France, the occupation of part of the country's territory and the installation in Vichy of a collaborationist government under the leadership of Marshal Petain. Marie is one of many young women left behind alone with two children to care for after her husband leaves for war. She is a simple woman living in a provincial town whose dreams of becoming a singer or even of leading a normal life have been dashed by the war. Somewhat by chance, while helping a neighbor friend, she discovers her ability to perform abortions. The return of her husband does not improve the family situation, on the contrary. Paul, traumatized by the war, becomes an extra burden, and any spark of love that may have existed between the two is now extinguished. Marie decides to turn her talent for helping other women into a source of income. There is no shortage of opportunities. Many women left alone are forced to look for support among occupiers or collaborators, and the children resulting from these relationships are unwanted burdens and risk compromising the mothers morally and socially. Marie's business prospers, the woman begins enjoy her better life, she also takes a lover, while asking herself few questions about what she is doing. However, the jealous husband does not accept the situation.

Isabelle Huppert is perfect in such roles, where facts are ambiguous and feelings repressed. Neither the screenwriters nor the director insist on making any moral judgment about the woman's actions. When she is caught, tried and condemned by a system that wants to make her a punishable example of immorality, the filmmakers' compassion seems to shift more towards the children left behind and destined to remain motherless. Huppert's Marie combines innocence with carelessness, love for children with a desire to live her life at all costs. It's a complex and interesting character, one of the best roles of his career. François Cluzet is her acting partner as the husband whose deeds as a sort of catalyst for the woman's downfall. As for Chabrol, during this period he had filtered and decanted all the lessons of New Wave cinema and had reached a remarkable efficiency and acuity of his means of expression - both in writing the story (inspired by a book by Francis Szpiner - jurist and politician, nowadays mayor of a Parisian arrondissement) but also in working with the camera. With restraint and without pathos, 'Une affaire de femmes' is one of the harshest cinematic indictments of French collaborationism and a statement of compassion for its victims.

Taking The Mike

[writers_reign · 9/10 · 24 November 2006]

This is the movie that Mike Leigh ripped off in Vera Drake and it's on view again as part of the Isabelle Huppert season at London's National Film Theatre. The overriding impression is the magnificent central performance from Huppert, definitely one of her best and that's saying a lot; one wonders at the folly of asking Imelda Staunton to go up against Huppert; this is something you just don't do unless you happen to be Nathalie Baye, Catherine Frot or Carole Bouquet and even then you make sure your affairs are in order. Chabrol hits almost every target at which he aims and he aims at a lot, the fact that the film is more or less true - based on the story of the last women to face the guillotine in France - is largely academic. In a nice touch for a tale of a woman who treated abortion casually Huppert's own five year old daughter appears as her fictional offspring. The towering central performance is only one strength of a film that is greater than its parts.

Cinema Omnivore - Story of Women (1988) 8.6/10

[lasttimeisaw · 9/10 · 29 November 2021]

"With regard to the hot-button issue of abortion, unlike similar-themed works such as Mike Leigh's VERA DRAKE (2004), Chabrol refuses to head into sentimentality of snot and lachrymose excretion, Marie reckons her act as a means to earn money and help those really in need, without much qualms (only later she tentatively asks Lulu, do fetuses have souls? And Lulu shoots back a piercing zinger). Even when a philoprogenitive mother (Blanc, her confession is delivered with pluperfect poignancy) dies after the homespun procedure, there is no compunction can be found on Huppert's steely face, only commiserations. For Marie, it is a risk entailed, she did nothing wrong, and it doesn't stop her to take the fee, the film's pro-choice stance is unbending and cogently asserted."

read my full review on my Cinema Omnivore, thanks.

Double morality

[GianfrancoSpada · 8/10 · 30 January 2024]

Claude Chabrol's "Une affaire de femmes" takes us back to the challenging times of World War II, exploring the life of Marie, portrayed with depth and complexity by Isabelle Huppert. Set against the backdrop of a war-torn France, the film delves into the moral intricacies of survival, collaboration, and the consequences of one woman's choices.

The narrative unfolds as Marie, left alone with her two children during the wartime, faces the grim reality of a defeated nation. Huppert's performance brings a nuanced portrayal of Marie as she navigates through a tumultuous period, discovering her unexpected skill in performing abortions, a secret source of income during these dire times.

The film refrains from passing moral judgment on Marie's actions, leaving room for the audience to grapple with the ethical complexities of her decisions. François Cluzet complements Huppert's portrayal with his role as Marie's husband, whose jealousy and actions set the stage for the unfolding tragedy.

Chabrol, a master of suspense and a seasoned storyteller, weaves a narrative that transcends the specifics of its wartime setting. The movie serves as a poignant commentary on the broader themes of collaboration, morality, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

"Une affaire de femmes" captures the essence of Claude Chabrol's ability to dissect societal norms and individual choices. The film, although set against the backdrop of WWII, resonates with timeless themes, leaving the audience with much to contemplate. Huppert's compelling performance, supported by a strong cast, makes this film a standout in Chabrol's body of work.

Moral Hypocrisy

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 26 April 2024]

In the occupied France in the World War II, the housewife and aspirant singer Marie Latour (Isabelle Huppert) is a young woman that raises her two children alone with many financial difficulties. Her husband, Paul Latour (François Cluzet), was made prisoner by the Germans and sent to Germany. When her next-door neighbor gets pregnant, she performs an abortion and receives a record player as a gift. Meanwhile, Paul returns too weak to find a steady job. Marie befriends the prostitute Lulu (Marie Trintignant) and learns that she can make money performing abortions and renting her room for prostitutes. Her life improves, she buys foods and clothes for her children and she, and has singing lessons with a teacher, but she refuses to have sex with Paul since she is in a loveless marriage. When she meets Lulu's client Lucien (Nils Tavernier), who is a collaborationist crane operator, he becomes her lover. One afternoon, she brings Lucien and has sex with him in her bed. Paul arrives earlier and sees them on the bed. Humiliated, he denounces Marie to the chief of police, she is arrested and sent to Paris to be judged. What will happen to her?

"Une affaire de femmes", a.k.a. "Story of Women", is another excellent film by Claude Chabrol that changes his usual suspense genre to a drama about moral hypocrisy in a occupied country during the World War II. The plot is based on the story of Marie Latour, who is magnificently performed by Isabelle Huppert, an uneducated woman that finds a means to survive in times of war and give a better life to her two children performing abortion of women knocked out by Germans, affairs or their own husbands and renting her room to prostitutes during the days. Her husband denounces her, and she is sent to Paris to become the scape goat in a political judgement in a defeated and hypocrite country. Chabrol touches the wound and Marie is guillotined in 1943. In the present days, abortion is still a polemic theme specially in Catholic countries like Brazil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Assunto de Mulheres" ("A Subject of Women")

Women story matters, they just matters

[mademoisherl · 9/10 · 4 March 2023]

Usually, a film with a title like this would take a sentimental approach to display the hardships of the widely-perceived inferior sex in the world, or, quoting the overused phrase from the media; how women can't have it all. In contrast, Chabrol brings the truthful reality of how women precisely can be a lot of things at once, have contradicting traits even, that doesn't make them worth less than anyone because that's what a human being essentially is. Flawed, layered, soul-searching, can't be defined as a single thing, and can be fiercely ambitious in achieving what they want. Those things should be allowed for anyone on this earth regardless of their gender and that is exactly what Isabelle Huppert did in this film. She gave depth to Marie that sends the audience riding a roller coaster with her life journey, sometimes you root for her while other times you questioned her. But that should be okay because women can't be defined by a single thing, nor should be pitied at all times. What we should always do is support women and believe that we can all benefit from a world with no patriarchal system that only resulted in tragedy.