Thursday, August 18, 2005

LA FEMME DE GILLES
GILLES' WIFE

Emmanuelle Devos, Clovis Cornillac, Laura Smet

SM Megamall Cinema 6, Belgian Film Festival

Belgian Film Festival

A simple tale of a wife dealing with the infidelity of her husband. Set in the 1930s in an industrial town, Elisa cooks, does the laundry, takes care of her children and her husband routinely day in and day out. Most of the film has very minimal dialogue yet by looking at the expressions of the actors, you can tell right away what they are thinking. Beautifully shot, a lot of close ups. You end up speculating as much as Elisa does during her moments of silence. You cannot begin to understand what really goes through her mind when she finds out the truth yet you know she is deeply troubled by the betrayal. Of course in this day and age when women would be quite vocal when faced by such treachery, it does make you think, maybe there are certain things left unsaid. It is emotionally powerful despite the vast amount of silence that permeates throughout the entire film. The ending was to be expected yet you are somehow caught by surprise when it does happen.

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