Copacabana (2010, Marc Fitoussi) (Patreon)

57/100

Believe it or not, I'm still investigating old ND/NF selections (that never got a U.S. release; this one premiered in Cannes' Critics Week, another enticement). Isabelle Huppert's the whole show here, playing against type as a bohemian free spirit; the film's ostensibly about a mother's strained relationship with her uptight adult daughter, who considers her such an embarrassment that she tells her future in-laws Mom will unfortunately be out of the country when the wedding takes place, but all of that stuff feels hackneyed and overwrought. Fortunately, the focus shifts to Babou's (told ya she's bohemian) adventures in some freezing Belgian town, where she lands a job selling time-share condos. Amusing “subplots" (nothing truly rises to that level) include Babou's involuntary professional rivalry with a sour-faced roommate and her fling with a local who resents being treated as a sex object. ("Some guys would love that," she accurately notes.) Fitoussi, who also wrote the screenplay, either worked in the time-share biz himself or did his homework, as we get plenty of specific details—my favorite was the boss' admonition against demonstrating the couch that can fold out into a bed, as that takes so long that it kills the sales momentum. Just lift the cushions and show them the mechanism, then move on. Huppert's predictably superb, despite straying some distance from her wheelhouse, and I'd give this a mild but solid recommendation were it not for the final reel, which clumsily engineers an unexpected betrayal and an improbable happy ending. Fitoussi's made six features since, none of which seems to have garnered any attention outside of France, so this is probably about as good as he gets.