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Hauntingly evocative and provocative period drama enthrals

The Mad Women’s Ball (18+, 121 mins) Directed by Melanie Laurent Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★1⁄2 In French with English subtitles

Melanie Laurent’s magnifique magnum opus is a fabulous reminder that the French don’t just make forgettable farces and cracking crime thrillers.

A costume drama par excellence, this is a sumptuous but sometimes harrowing watch, a kind of late-19th-century Girl, Interrupted, boasting two terrific performances, including one from the helmer herself. In fact, the only disappointment of this compelling tale is that, after its recent world premiere at this month’s Toronto Film Festival, you can only watch this very cinematic adaptation of Victoria Mas’ 2019 novel Le bal des folles on Amazon Prime Video.

The first film in French to be produced by Jeff Bezos’ global streamer, it is the story of Eugenie Clery (a luminous Lou de Laage), a progressive, well-read and sociable young woman who is determined to live her own life. But her penchant for salon debates, cafes and thought-provoking poetry is much to the chagrin of her more traditional father (Cedric Khan).

‘‘The little fool is always embarrassing me,’’ he opines.

After Eugenie publicly expresses her opposition to debutante balls and their ilk, describing them as ‘‘degrading’’, his patience begins to wear thin, warning her that she is placing the entire family’s name and reputation in jeopardy.

However, it isn’t such a berating that reduces the normally confident Eugenie to a subsequent gibbering mess, but rather an encounter with someone from ‘‘the other side’’. She has been plagued by such visions and voices for some time, but now they are threatening her sanity. ‘‘I know what happens to girls like you,’’ her brother Theophile (Benjamin Voisin) frets when she confides in him. And sure enough, Eugenie’s last chance to redeem herself in her father’s eyes turns out to be a ruse, a trip that, thanks to one stroke of her papa’s pen, ends up with her being institutionalised at Paris’ Salpetriere Asylum.

Joining a collection of ‘‘psychotic and idiotic’’ women from all strata of French society, many of whose diagnoses were apparently missed by a ‘‘traditional medical examination’’, Eugenie finds herself subjected to appalling and humiliating treatments such as solitary confinement and ice baths.

At times, it’s a place of barely controlled chaos, with definite suggestions that some of the doctors are abusing their positions of power. At first, Eugenie’s defiance and ‘‘abilities’’ see her butt heads with the asylum’s matron, Genevieve Gleizes (Laurent), but when she reveals intimate details that only the latter’s dearly departed sister would know, Genevieve’s staunch stance begins to soften, and she begins to question the methods and efficacy of her workplace.

From an evocative, immersive opening at the funeral of famed author Victor Hugo, to a finale that is both grotesque and deeply satisfying, The Mad Women’s Ball is truly captivating viewing.

Laurent, best known outside France for her acting roles in Hollywood films like Inglourious Basterds and Beginners, does a superb job of creating a sense of space and place and eliciting emotion out of the audience.

As well as the rage-inducing treatment of the ‘‘inmates’’, the script also offers interesting questions about spirituality – Eugenie questioning how it is deemed ‘‘acceptable to believe in God’’ when her connections are deemed an abhorrent aberration.

Evocative, provocative and boasting some seriously top-notch production design and costuming, The Mad Women’s Ball will haunt you for days afterwards.

The Mad Women’s Ball is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Entertainment

en-nz

2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/282342567988799

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