Isabelle Huppert has an uncanny ability to parlay her very distinctive appearance - flame-red hair, high cheekbones, a sprinkle of freckles and thin, sensuous and faintly cruel lips - into creating characters of astonishing individuality. And that skill is plainly on show in this small and gentle comedy-drama which first played in the Showcase Festival in March.
Comedy is not the characteristic genre for the French star, but she takes to it with aplomb creating a woman called Babou, who is as charming to us as she must be exasperating to those around her. Her bohemian lifestyle - free-spirited or irresponsible depending on your point of view - drives her daughter Esmeralda (played by Huppert's real-life daughter Chammah) to ask her to stay away from her impending wedding.
The shock steels Babou to take work, selling timeshare beachfront apartments in the Belgian resort town of Ostend, which is where most of the film takes place: here she has to outwit a spiteful rival (the excellent Banlier) and a vengeful boss, all the while displaying that, beneath her ditzy exterior, there beats a heart of gold.
The film's visual interests lie largely in the bleak setting: Ostend in winter is icy blue and the endless flat beaches stretch off to a slate-grey horizon.
In this context, Babou - in a fur coat with her hair piled up and her pale skin and blood-red lips giving her the look of a clown - stands out like a beacon of joy.
