In the last 30 minutes of so of _Simone: Woman of the Century_, the Holocaust scenes (Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and the death marches in between), only hinted at in flashbacks before, take center stage. Relentless depravity haunts every scene, interrupted only by brief cutaways to the elderly Simone Veil (Elsa Zylberstein) narrating these personal events in voiceover. These haunting images harken back to the scenes of French/Algerian prisoner being mistreated, and finally explains the explosive outrage that has driven the young Veil (Rebecca Marder) to crusade for human dignity for France's lowest citizens, even its enemies. (Is Veil also paying forward her debt to the Polish death-camp guard-woman's unexpected kindness here?) Watching scenes after scenes of Simone, her sister Milou (Judith Chemla), and mother Yvonne (Elodie Bouchez) clinging to each other in their desperate ordeal, we finally understand the depth of Simone Veil's despair at Milou's death in a car accident, and the film's insistent reminder of Yvonne's influence on her daughters.
In other words, _Simone_ has the same narrative structure as the very famous _Sophie's Choice_. Yet Alan Pakula's 1982 film won Meryl Streep an Oscar and numerous other awards. Olivier Dahan's work has lodged two minor Cesar nominations, winning both; the film is never released in the U. S. And it is the better film, more grounded in reality -- even if the improbable rise of Holocaust survivor to political immortality in France registers as a more "Hollywood" ending! In a way, _Sophie's Choice_ would fit today's trendy discourse about "trauma" to perfection. Veil's unwavering courage and heroism, by contrast, seem to make her a Cold War relic, or perhaps something out of distant Greek myths.
Both actresses themselves have mixed Jewish-Catholic upbringing. Zylberstein supposedly puts on weight and lots of facial make-up for the mature Veil scenes. Her Simone is calm and contemplative, but we also see flashes of the combative self evident in the character's younger years, especially during the abortion debate when opponents rain abuse and bigotry on her. Marder has just starred as another high-spirited, highly educated Jewish girl the previous year, in Sandrine Kiberlain's astonishing _A Radiant Girl_. The effervescence, head-strong determination, and clever repartee are still there in this film. But it is in the last half hour, when she is reduced to an abject squalid wreck, her hair shaved and her words silenced, that you see the true strength of Marder's performance. You always read about the hollowed-out spirit of death camp survivors, their gaze dead, but oh, how Marder's eyes burn! Her character is put on earthwork duties near Auschwitz, then masonry. That rock-like, indomitable essence will never desert her. If there is lingering doubt about whether Rebecca Marder will be a legend of cinema someday, _Simone_ has swept it away. (I see her as the worthy successor to Barbara Sukowa, who has had quite a monopoly on the Hannah Arendt, Hildegard von Bingen, and Rosa Luxemburg "great intellectual women of history" roles.)
But the triumph is also Olivier Dahan's. The non-chronological, episodic, emphatic depiction of Veil's greatest triumphs and worst heartbreaks is exactly what viewers like me, relatively ignorant of Veil's eventful life-story, can benefit most from. (It is how _Maestro_ should have been structured!) Veil's compassion for the down-trodden -- including those afflicted with AIDs -- is particularly touching. The one thing missing from the screenplay is, surely, Veil's political savvy. You don't win world-changing votes, over and over again (on abortion, prison reforms, for the Presidency of the European Union) with only idealism and fervor; you need to know how to court allies. Anyone can be a firebrand. Being able to work with the system and change institutions from within takes superhuman tenacity and courage. On that score, Simone Veil must truly be one of the greatest women of the 20th century.
In terms of the quality of film-making, _Simone_ sends me back to Dahan's previous best film. Not _La Vie en Rose_ which I barely remember, or _Grace of Monaco_ which I did not finish, but _La Vie Promise_. Stylistically they are similar indeed. Both _Simone_ and _La Vie Promise_ convey a sense of fragmentation early on, the flashbacks and present-day events depicted with contrasting graininess and lighting choices. The visuals are perhaps a bit too busy (both feature the 2.35:1 widescreen format, which helps), and the use of music also gets a bit heavy-handed. As the traumatic past is revealed, the debris of memory accumulate, and the poignant voiceover (coming at an angle to the narrative) percolates in our head, the narrative becomes hyper-focused -- the score also distilling into solo piano -- and each film takes on the force of a landslide. It took me hours to recover from the ending of _Simone_. Elsa Zylberstein, also a producer, reportedly labored to draw Dahan out of his post-_Grace of Monaco_-failure self-imposed exile, so the film is about the director exorcising his own demons too! His film is an inspiration to everyone; it is a must-see for the younger generation so often given to fear for the future, to despair.
In other words, _Simone_ has the same narrative structure as the very famous _Sophie's Choice_. Yet Alan Pakula's 1982 film won Meryl Streep an Oscar and numerous other awards. Olivier Dahan's work has lodged two minor Cesar nominations, winning both; the film is never released in the U. S. And it is the better film, more grounded in reality -- even if the improbable rise of Holocaust survivor to political immortality in France registers as a more "Hollywood" ending! In a way, _Sophie's Choice_ would fit today's trendy discourse about "trauma" to perfection. Veil's unwavering courage and heroism, by contrast, seem to make her a Cold War relic, or perhaps something out of distant Greek myths.
Both actresses themselves have mixed Jewish-Catholic upbringing. Zylberstein supposedly puts on weight and lots of facial make-up for the mature Veil scenes. Her Simone is calm and contemplative, but we also see flashes of the combative self evident in the character's younger years, especially during the abortion debate when opponents rain abuse and bigotry on her. Marder has just starred as another high-spirited, highly educated Jewish girl the previous year, in Sandrine Kiberlain's astonishing _A Radiant Girl_. The effervescence, head-strong determination, and clever repartee are still there in this film. But it is in the last half hour, when she is reduced to an abject squalid wreck, her hair shaved and her words silenced, that you see the true strength of Marder's performance. You always read about the hollowed-out spirit of death camp survivors, their gaze dead, but oh, how Marder's eyes burn! Her character is put on earthwork duties near Auschwitz, then masonry. That rock-like, indomitable essence will never desert her. If there is lingering doubt about whether Rebecca Marder will be a legend of cinema someday, _Simone_ has swept it away. (I see her as the worthy successor to Barbara Sukowa, who has had quite a monopoly on the Hannah Arendt, Hildegard von Bingen, and Rosa Luxemburg "great intellectual women of history" roles.)
But the triumph is also Olivier Dahan's. The non-chronological, episodic, emphatic depiction of Veil's greatest triumphs and worst heartbreaks is exactly what viewers like me, relatively ignorant of Veil's eventful life-story, can benefit most from. (It is how _Maestro_ should have been structured!) Veil's compassion for the down-trodden -- including those afflicted with AIDs -- is particularly touching. The one thing missing from the screenplay is, surely, Veil's political savvy. You don't win world-changing votes, over and over again (on abortion, prison reforms, for the Presidency of the European Union) with only idealism and fervor; you need to know how to court allies. Anyone can be a firebrand. Being able to work with the system and change institutions from within takes superhuman tenacity and courage. On that score, Simone Veil must truly be one of the greatest women of the 20th century.
In terms of the quality of film-making, _Simone_ sends me back to Dahan's previous best film. Not _La Vie en Rose_ which I barely remember, or _Grace of Monaco_ which I did not finish, but _La Vie Promise_. Stylistically they are similar indeed. Both _Simone_ and _La Vie Promise_ convey a sense of fragmentation early on, the flashbacks and present-day events depicted with contrasting graininess and lighting choices. The visuals are perhaps a bit too busy (both feature the 2.35:1 widescreen format, which helps), and the use of music also gets a bit heavy-handed. As the traumatic past is revealed, the debris of memory accumulate, and the poignant voiceover (coming at an angle to the narrative) percolates in our head, the narrative becomes hyper-focused -- the score also distilling into solo piano -- and each film takes on the force of a landslide. It took me hours to recover from the ending of _Simone_. Elsa Zylberstein, also a producer, reportedly labored to draw Dahan out of his post-_Grace of Monaco_-failure self-imposed exile, so the film is about the director exorcising his own demons too! His film is an inspiration to everyone; it is a must-see for the younger generation so often given to fear for the future, to despair.