Year of Release: 2018
Director: Serge Bozon
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Romain Duris, Jose Garcia, Adda Senani, Guillaume Verdier, Patricia Barzyk, Pierre Leon, Roxane Arnal, Angele Metzger
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review:
After "Tip Top" made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival of 2013, where it was met with tepid reviews, actor/director Serge Bozon returned with "Madame Hyde". The film follows the story of a high school teacher, Madame Gequil, who has a difficult time controlling and motivating her students. She teaches a technical course, specifically Electricity/Physics, which has a practical component, which she refuses to teach her students. She typically prepares her classes in a detached container which operates as a lab, and one evening she suffers an accident, an electrical discharge that somehow permeates across her body. She starts exhibiting different behaviors, something her adoring husband starts noticing, the same going for her students, and the principal of the school she works at. As this new power surge flows through her, this new personality slowly emerges, that makes her more confident and reassured of herself, positively, while also causing some unexpected accidents with some people she interacts with.
The story of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been adapted countless times to feature films, and this project in particular, features one of the most celebrated actresses working these days, the phenomenal Isabelle Huppert. While the director and the actress manage to convey the character's frustration and inability to handle her classes and the challenges associated with it, when the change does occur, it lacks the energy and the spike to make it feel more life changing and empowering. The transformation suffered by Madam Gequil ends up feeling more like a bizarre exercise in sleepwalking, and not something that is dark, but also empowering and even silently menacing. Isabelle Huppert is an actress who can play any role, but has also become well known for being able to convey a silent intensity that threatens to shatter everything in sight. Sadly her character never gets to experience that journey, and the film overall lacks energy and that actual punch to make it truly memorable. Romain Duris and Jose Garcia create solid supporting characters, but again, not enough to warrant further attention to the narrative. A waste of great talent and potential.
The story of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been adapted countless times to feature films, and this project in particular, features one of the most celebrated actresses working these days, the phenomenal Isabelle Huppert. While the director and the actress manage to convey the character's frustration and inability to handle her classes and the challenges associated with it, when the change does occur, it lacks the energy and the spike to make it feel more life changing and empowering. The transformation suffered by Madam Gequil ends up feeling more like a bizarre exercise in sleepwalking, and not something that is dark, but also empowering and even silently menacing. Isabelle Huppert is an actress who can play any role, but has also become well known for being able to convey a silent intensity that threatens to shatter everything in sight. Sadly her character never gets to experience that journey, and the film overall lacks energy and that actual punch to make it truly memorable. Romain Duris and Jose Garcia create solid supporting characters, but again, not enough to warrant further attention to the narrative. A waste of great talent and potential.
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