The initial closing credit for this intriguing drama says it all: “Huppert/Depardieu.” Whatever else writer-director Guillaume Nicloux's Valley of Love might be, it is primarily a showcase for two French acting legends, Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu, who were first paired together in 1980's Loulou. In this hybrid ghost story and portrait of a failed family, Huppert plays Isabelle, ex-wife of Depardieu's Gerard (the choice of character names adds a layer of self-aware cinematic gravitas). Brought together far from their respective homes, the two have not seen each other for years but have agreed to meet in California's Death Valley. The reason: their son Michael, who committed suicide while living in San Francisco, left them a letter with instructions to be at a particular site in the desert at a precise day and time. With no idea what this means, Gérard reluctantly goes along with Isabelle's strong feeling that they must honor Michael's request. In the days leading up to the rendezvous, the ex-spouses bicker and dissect the past, exchanging recriminations over the ways that they emotionally and literally abandoned Michael more than once in his short life. Gérard seems cavalier about not seeing his son for years, and Isabelle is far more devoted to her second family, yet these miserable, confused, deeply-flawed characters are also sympathetic as regret-filled individuals. Nicloux underscores their emotional isolation by capturing images of the pair against the vast expanses of the desert, with its dreamlike sand dunes and canyon walls. When the moment comes for fulfilling Michael's written request, the scene resembles something found in a Henry James ghost story. Recommended. (T. Keogh)
Valley of Love
Strand</span></st1_place><span style='mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>, 92 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $27.99, June 28 Volume 31, Issue 3
Valley of Love
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