Violette
Director: Martin Provost
Talent: Emmanuelle Davos, Sandrine Kiberlaine, Olivier Gourmet, Catherine Hiegel
Release Date: 3rd October 2014
In the decade following WW II Violette Leduc (Emmanuelle Davos), portrayed here as a troubled but resourceful woman, found her voice. From a war torn but intellectually buzzing Paris she began to write her stories and memoirs that would eventually make her a cultural icon and a bestselling author.
Devos is first class playing a constantly oscillating, disconsolate and near childlike genius. This is a film that is intelligent, erotic, poetic, tragic, direct and uplifting, but most of all painfully human. In a way that her contemporary writers like Sartre, Camus and De Beauvoir recognised, the story of Leduc’s life and outlook is an important one. Revolutionary then, but still poignant and important now. Violette is excellent as both a biopic and a commentary on the tribulations of life, the heart and the soul.
Words: Eoghain Meakin
