Sponsored by Ruby Livingdesign

Directed by Rémi Bezançon

Starring: Louise Bourgoin, Pio Marmaï, Josiane Balasko, Thierry Frémont

It is no small coincidence that, at the outset of this witty, candid meditation on motherhood, a philosophy professor invokes Kafka’s Metamorphosis as he’s speaking with his bright and (unbeknownst to him) pregnant protégée, Barbara (Louise Bourgoin). Based on Éliette Abécassis’s best-selling novel, Rémi Bezançon’s whimsical taboo-breaking tale follows Barbara’s transformation from her meet-cute with a video store clerk (Pio Marmaï) to her impulsive, not to mention implosive, decision to bear a child. In a standout performance, Bourgoin is simultaneously vulnerable and resilient as a woman struggling to reconcile her intellectual pursuits with her visceral experience as a first-time mother. In a style reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Bezançon boldly mines the comedy and tragedy of Barbara’s predicament, exploring how our true education in life comes not from unified theories but from the tangled web of family and friends that challenges, confounds and ultimately defines us.

Film Note Writer: Laura Swanbeck