The Valley of Love – Film Review by Frank L.

Directed by Guillaume Nicloux
Writers: Guillaume Nicloux (screenplay), David H. Pickering (translation)
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, Dan Warner

Handily Gérard Depardieu retains his first name Gérard in the story and Isabelle Huppert, his estranged wife, retains hers. Also both are conveniently well-known actors. They have come together as a result of the death by suicide of their gay son six months earlier. He had been living with his lover in California. He had written to both of them just before he died requesting them to travel from France to Death Valley, California where if they follow his instructions he would reveal himself to them.

The resort in Death Valley where they are staying is to European eyes very Californian in its ambience. Gérard and Isabelle at all times look, one must assume intentionally, somewhat like fish out of water in this environment. In the case of Gérard, perhaps a whale out of water, given his current size might be a more appropriate simile.

However they rub along together quite well with some inevitable explosions given their past and the unusual mission on which they are employed. Humour enters into the rather sombre proceedings at times such as when Gérard is recognised as a famous actor by one of the other guests at the resort. He is asked to sign his name by another resident. He does so. The name he signs is a bit of a surprise. Quirkily the joke is shared with the audience.

The main ex-matrimonial squabble is whether Gérard will stay the full seven days. He makes clear that he cannot do the full seven.  Isabelle refuses to accept this. However little things begin to happen to both of them and they struggle on. The various outings into Death Valley have a searing beauty and both of them look vulnerable; Gérard because his heaving mass seems likely to exhaust itself in the heat and Isabelle’s delicacy is completely dwarfed by Gérard’s bloated frame and the imposing landscape.

Gradually there is revealed more about their life since they left each other and a little more about their dead son. The son’s two letters are explored but given their content do not make comfortable reading.  However the letters serve their initial purpose in bringing Gérard and Isabelle together in the one place. To that extent the three of them are together for the duration of the film.

What makes the film is not the story line which is in the extremely unlikely category but the juxtaposition between Depardieu and Huppert who are quintessential French actors in such an unvarnished American or Californian landscape. There is a natural unease created by this dissonance which is further heightened by the fact that they as parents are meeting for the first time in many years. Depardieu and Huppert are both masterly as they display where each can accommodate the other and where they cannot. It is all very professional but somehow there is a feeling that the script was created as a clever exercise and the underlying substance was secondary to that purpose.