Looking through the body of work of Hirokazu Kore-eda, this film starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke sticks out like a sore thumb. I have no idea how he even managed to write the script but this is indeed a perfectly cromulent French film. It also falls in line with the director’s other work in diving into the sins of parents. Unfortunately while I loved the premise and the presence of these star actors working together, the denouement is somewhat pedestrian making it more of a mid-tier Kore-eda film.

Celebrated actress Fabienne Dangeville is releasing her memoir. Her daughter Lumir, her American husband Hank and their daughter Charlotte arrives in Paris for the launch of the book. Lumir is upset that Fabienne didn’t let her read the manuscript in advance and is further dismayed that many of the stories in it are untrue and there is no mention in it of Sarah Mondavan. We learn that Sarah was Fabienne’s best friend and an accomplished actress in her own right until she was betrayed by Fabienne in clinching a career-defining role. The next day, they accompany Fabienne to the set of her latest film, a science-fiction story in which she plays a daughter who has aged while her mother remains young. Fabienne is visibly annoyed with the young star Manon Lenoir who is being hailed as the next Sarah Mondavan. When Luc, Fabienne’s long-suffering manage, announces his own retirement as her memoir makes no mention of him, Lumir has to step in as her assistant despite her own resentment over her mother’s absence while she was growing up.

I have some doubts over the names of some of the characters. Dangeville for example is not a surname in common use in France even if it vaguely sounds like it. Lumir is strange as a woman’s name. Yet in most other respects, this comes across as a highly authentic French film with plausible dialogue, realistic family dynamics and a strong grasp on French culture. This is astonishing as Kore-eda does not speak French at all. In interviews, the director has indicated that this was a collaborative effort and he was able to sense when a given take was correct even without understanding the language. Certainly it helps that the subject is well within his wheelhouse, about a mother so entirely focused on being a legendary actress that all other concerns are secondary. That includes not just giving Lumir the time and attention she needed when she was a child but also as the title indicates, the concept of truth itself. To burnish her personal legend, her memoir is full of untruths and she denigrates other actresses who might threaten her status as the grande dame of French cinema. Kore-eda improves on his usual formula here in that the daughter in this instance is no longer a defenceless child. As a mature and strong woman in her own right, Lumir is able to call Fabienne out on her lies and past wrongs.

Having the science-fiction film they’re working on be a dark mirror of their own mother-daughter relationship is perhaps too on the nose but it’s a clever way to both relive miised opportunities and showcase the fact that Fabienne truly is a fantastic actress. At one point, she straight out admits that she’d rather be a great actress than a good mother or a good friend and that’s the whole film in a nutshell. I loved watching Lumir calling her mother out and being wise to all of her manipulations. Unfortunately even Kore-eda is more forgiving towards poor parenting that I’d have liked so long as it’s in the pursuit of artistic greatness. The film meanders towards the end as it searches for a satisfying resolution. The end is unsurprising as Lumir makes peace with her mother even as the latter leverages the real emotions of their confrontation to fuel a more intense performance. Even as Fabienne is acerbic towards everyone even on set with her diva behavior, she gets away with it due to her status and her acting skills, which waters down the condemnation that Kore-eda usually goes for in his work.

It’s probably for this reason that most critics don’t consider among his best work. It’s just so much less intense than his usual fare even if this might be a reasonable portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship so long after the childhood neglect happened. I still like it as it’s such a pleasure to see Deneuve and Binoche in the same film. My mind is somewhat blown that this is the one and only time the two have worked together despite each being possibly the most celebrated French actress of their respective generations. Ethan Hawke has surprisingly little to do here and appears to be mostly along for the ride. It’s a below par Kore-eda film but he is a genius for casting them together.