Three Women's tales at Cannes: MARGUERITE'S THEOREM, LEGUA, and CREATURA

In screening films for Cannes I unintentionally ended up putting together a triple feature of films looking at the lives of women from different perspectives. Because the films resonated more being presented together I am presenting the films as a triple feature review

MARGUERITE'S THEOREM (2023) 

This is the story of a young woman who is living a neatly ordered life. Heading toward completing her thesis in prime number she has her world rattled to the core when during a talk a mistake is made and she has to go back and start over.

One of the best films I’ve seen at this year’s Cannes Film Festival MARGUERITE'S THEOREM  is a beautifully acted and made film about a driven woman trying to find the correct path. While specifically about the young woman in question, the film resonates outward to reveal the layers that exist in anyone who seek to have a perfectly controlled life.

Recommended

LEGUA (2023)
The stages of life as portrayed by three generations of women in one family. A middle aged woman goes to help he mother care for the home of a rich family who are never there. They are to keep the house fresh in case the family shows up. Meanwhile the youngest daughter is a will o the wisp and simply drifts from thing to thing.

The arc of our lives played out before our eyes. Grandmother is set in her way and doesn’t want to change.Life is set. Daughter is trying to get by and asking is this what life has come to, her plans being beat down by life, while the youngest sees possibilities in everything. The drama is the clash of the world view and the realization that this is the arc of life.

This is a beautiful film with a very deliberate pace. It’s a film that moves at the speed of life which may not thrill others but is destined to leave others wanting more. Normally this would not be a film I would chose to see but because I’m covering Cannes I got to discover this gem.

Worth a look.

CREATURA (2023)
A young woman moves in into a house with her boyfriend and suddenly has to deal with a sudden lack of desire. She then begins o reexamine her life to see what brought her to this place.

I’m not going to lie, while I can admire CREATURA and I could tell you how good the parts of the film are I always felt like an outsider. I’m not sure if its because a number of things are left unsaid, the filmmakers not spelling certain things out specifically, or because the film is very much rooted in the female experience. I say this because through much of the film I kept feeling that had I been a woman it would have made more sense to me.

Very well done, but I think this is going to play better for women than men.