Souvenir (2016)
Directed by Bavo Defurne

Film Review

Belgian film director Bavo Defurne followed up his impressive debut feature North Sea Texas (2011) with Souvenir, a sweet but flimsy romance of the May-September variety in which Isabelle Huppert proves that, despite her formidable talents as an actress, she definitely should not take up singing as a career.  It's been an eventful year for Huppert, winning plaudits galore for her stunning performances in Paul Verhoeven's Elle and Mia Hansen-Løve's L'Avenir and embarking on something of an endurance test with an ambitious stage production of Phaedra.  The sixty-something actress shows no sign of slacking, and even less sign of losing her appeal.  Defurne's light, kitsch offering allowed her some welcome time off from her more serious dramatic roles, but it did present her with a new challenge: having to pass herself off as a veteran Eurovision singer.  Let's just say that Isa should stick with her day job.

In Souvenir, Huppert is well partnered with charismatic newcomer Kévin Azaïs, who first distinguished himself in Arnaud Labrède's acclaimed 2014 film Les Combattants.  The younger brother of another well-known French actor (Vincent Rottiers), Azaïs has a Latin macho sensuality (marred only by a hideous biker's moustache) that makes him the perfect hot-blooded complement to Huppert in yet another of her thawing ice-maiden portrayals.  The similarities with Xavier Giannoli's Quand j'étais chanteur (2006) are scant but noticeable, Souvenir being the inferior film owing to its lack of character depth and original narrative content. Defurne fortunately has enough imaginative flair as a director to make something of the fairly derivative plot and what he delivers is a rather charming oddity that lies somewhere between sugary fairytale and realist melodrama, delicately wrapped up in a succinct statement on the ephemeral nature of celebrity.  Souvenir is hardly Isabelle Huppert's finest hour and the actress appears frankly ill-at-ease as a crooner (she did far better in François Ozon's 8 femmes).  Still, it's a treat to see her still trying to expand her repertoire and even though the film falls down a little in the script department it still has enough charm and vitality to make it an agreeable little divertissement.

Film Synopsis

In middle-age, Liliane appears content with her monotonous solitary life.  By day she works in a meat factory, by night she soaks up trashy television programmes.  Who'd have thought that this ordinary looking woman was once a professional singer, a runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest?   But that was more than thirty years ago.  Now the world has forgotten her and Liliane has no intention of wallowing in what might have been.  Unfortunately, the world hasn't quite forgotten Liliane.  Her young colleague Jean recognises her and, after a few futile lies, she is forced to admit that she once had a successful singing career.  As they embark on a passionate love affair, Jean manages to persuade Liliane that she should resume her former career.  Encouraged by her lover's confidence in her, Liliane takes the plunge and re-establishes contact with her former manager.  The latter is more than willing to assist the singer's big comeback, providing she can offer him something in return...