Film Review: ‘One Fine Morning’: Seydoux Delivers Another Winning Performance

Michael Clark
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R | 1h 53min | DramaRomance | 24 February 2023 (USA)
While not her finest effort (that would be “Things to Come” from 2016), writer and director Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning” (French: “Un beau matin”) is yet another worthwhile inclusion for her consistently impressive résumé.
A huge devotee of Ingmar Bergman (Bergman’s surname was included in her two most recent efforts), Hansen-Love eschews narrative overindulgence, instead favoring frank, unadorned storytelling.

Throwback Style

For fans of classic, mid-20th century European neo-realism, this approach will be highly welcomed. This film is one that relies on nuance, things that are left unsaid, and the perhaps dangerous assumption that the audience can agree to these terms and follow along without complaint.
(L–R) Clément (Melvil Poupaud), Linn (Leban Martins), and Sandra (Léa Seydoux) enjoy each other’s company in “One Fine Morning.” (Sony Pictures Classics)
(L–R) Clément (Melvil Poupaud), Linn (Leban Martins), and Sandra (Léa Seydoux) enjoy each other’s company in “One Fine Morning.” Sony Pictures Classics

Léa Seydoux (think a younger Mia Farrow by way of Scarlett Johansson) stars as Sandra, a widowed single mother who makes what appears to be a decent living in Paris as an interpreter. She’s a great mother to her daughter Linn (Camille Leban Martins), a ’tween who has adjusted as well as can be expected to life after losing her father.

During a trip to a park, Sandra runs into Clément (Melvil Poupaud), a friend of her late husband who is married with a son about Linn’s age. They exchange pleasantries, make semi-obligatory promises of staying in touch, and get on to getting back to their lives, yet there is a slowly smoldering undercurrent of longing attached to their chance meeting.

The next 15 minutes find Sandra and Clément dancing around but not quite addressing the inevitable—something those of us are fortunate enough to find at least once in our lifetime. This heady, tasteful, and incremental lead-up to eventual congress lends the production a marked level of class and decorum. It is a perfect and understated example of flirting: a situation where neither of the participants wishes to reveal the true intense nature of their longing before the other admits to it.

Clément is a professional cosmochemist (someone who collects and examines space matter such as meteorites and asteroids), a job that requires frequent global travel. These long stretches away from home has put an understandable level of strain on his marriage, which only gets exacerbated by the increased amount of time he spends with Sandra and Linn.
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) and Clément (Melvil Poupaud) are friends, in "One Fine Morning." (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) and Clément (Melvil Poupaud) are friends, in "One Fine Morning." Sony Pictures Classics

Family Matters

Initially, Sandra takes Clément’s absences and time spent with his family in stride, as she has her hands full being the chief caregiver of her ailing father Georg (Pascal Greggory). Once a noted philosopher and author, Georg is suffering from Benson’s syndrome, a degenerative disorder and a variant of Alzheimer’s disease that results in blindness and muscular atrophy.

For anyone who has not had to care for sick parents, this is a nerve-fraying and often financially draining endeavor. Neither Sandra, Georg, his ex-wife Françoise (Nicole Garcia), nor his modest pension will provide enough funds for ideal care, so he ends up being transferred from one facility to the next.

Sandra (Léa Seydoux) cares for her father, Georg (Pascal Greggory),  in "One Fine Morning." (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) cares for her father, Georg (Pascal Greggory),  in "One Fine Morning." Sony Pictures Classics

There are some who might find Hansen-Love’s screenplay complicated and messy, while others will appreciate its reflection and capturing of real life—something that is often complicated and messy. If for no other reason, Hansen-Love deserves high marks for “keeping it real,” not sugarcoating (or oversimplifying) the story and leaving the fates of some, but not all, of the characters open-ended.

As for Seydoux, best known to American audiences for her role as the love interest in the most recent James Bond flick (“No Time to Die”), Sandra is just the latest in a line of characters she’s played who keep their cards close to the vest and their emotions in check.

Shades of Garbo

Many (myself included) have compared Seydoux’s acting to that of Greta Garbo: subtle, understated, melancholic, spare, and mysterious. Seydoux is all of those things and more in “One Fine Morning,” portraying a woman being pulled in multiple directions, whose priority is placating and accommodating everyone in her life except herself.

Sandra’s emotional and spiritual catharsis, arriving halfway through the film’s final act, also provides the film with a much needed pressure-release valve. She eventually realizes that if she doesn’t occasionally put her own concerns and desires first, she’ll eventually be of no help to those she cares about the most; it’s something we all should do once in a while.

Presented in subtitled French and German with infrequent English.
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) is a widowed, single mother who has many challenges, in "One Fine Morning." (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) is a widowed, single mother who has many challenges, in "One Fine Morning." Sony Pictures Classics
‘One Fine Morning’ Director: Mia Hansen-Love Stars: Léa Seydoux, Melvil Poupaud, Pascal Greggory, Camille Leban Martins, Nicole Garcia Running Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes MPAA Rating: R Release Date: Feb. 24, 2023 Rating: 4 out of 5
Michael Clark
Michael Clark
Author
Originally from the nation's capital, Michael Clark has provided film content to over 30 print and online media outlets. He co-founded the Atlanta Film Critics Circle in 2017 and is a weekly contributor to the Shannon Burke Show on FloridaManRadio.com. Since 1995, Clark has written over 5,000 movie reviews and film-related articles. He favors dark comedy, thrillers, and documentaries.
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