Review: Let the Sunshine In

Image courtesy of Sundance Selects.

In some ways, "Let the Sunshine In" is the most radical departure of Claire Denis' career. The French filmmaker is known for such cerebral works as the remarkable "Beau Travail," the gorgeously grim "Trouble Every Day" and the acclaimed "White Material." So, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that her latest picture - starring an excellent as always Juliette Binoche - is a romantic dramedy, of sorts, albeit a somewhat heavy one.

The picture opens with a sex scene in which Binoche is prompting - at first subtly, then not so much - her lover to finish his business. At first, we are led to believe that it's Binoche's Isabelle who is, well, difficult until we realize what a creep her beau, Vincent - played by filmmaker Xavier Beauvois - is. As it turns out, Vincent is married, has no intention of leaving his wife - even going as far to noting that while Isabelle is "charming," his wife is "extraordinary" - and relishes in gossip. During one scene in which he talks down to a perfectly pleasant waiter at a Parisian bar, we wonder how Isabelle could put up with this guy at all.

"Let the Sunshine In" is not particularly concerned with a narrative as it is in placing its lead character in a series of scenarios - mostly of the romantic sort - that tend to end in her frustration. After Vincent - whom Isabelle finally shoves out her front door - she gets involved in a string of failed romances - first with a tattooed actor who is also married and confused about Isabelle's on-again-off-again approach to their affair, and then with a man she meets on a dance floor and, finally, a sensitive sort (played by the great Alex Descas), who doesn't want to rush things, much to Isabelle's dismay.

The picture ends with a somewhat baffling - although not in a bad way - sequence in which Isabelle meets up with a man who might be a shrink, friend, spiritualist or confidante - who knows? - played by Gerard Depardieu. This man talks to Isabelle in a rambling monologue that actually plays over the film's ending credits during which he gives advice - well, kind of - on her love life and describes how she must find her own "inner sun." It's a scene that is equally perplexing and entrancing.

But Denis has - throughout her career - been a master of such sequences. Consider the delirious finale of "Beau Travail" or the lovely scene involving the Commodores' "Nightshift" in "35 Shots of Rum." She makes great use of music, and there's a scene in "Let the Sunshine In" in which Isabelle dances by herself - and then with one of her new beaus - to Etta James' "At Last" on a dance floor that is absolutely radiant. Although much of Isabelle's life is trials and tribulations, mostly of the romantic variety, there are moments in which she does, in fact, let the sunshine in. And it's those moments that make Denis' latest picture such a delight.