In ‘One Fine Morning,’ Léa Seydoux Reclaims Her Identity Amid Struggles of Love and Family

Save ArticleSave Article

Failed to save article

Please try again

White woman with short hair leans chin on hand with white girl in similar pose
Léa Seydoux as Sandra, Camille Leban Martins as Linn in 'One Fine Morning.' (Carole Bethuel / Les Films Pelléas; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

The Parisian dream of romance is subjected to a hard dose of social realism in Mia Hansen-Løve’s newest film, One Fine Morning. Starring Léa Seydoux as Sandra, we first meet the film’s protagonist en route to her father’s apartment. With a backpack firmly strapped in place over her shoulders, she strides forward with the determined gait of a foot soldier. Her father Georg (Pascal Greggory), a retired philosophy professor whose eyesight and memory are failing, needs to be coached through the process of opening his own door. Sandra realizes he’ll no longer be able to continue living on his own.

Along with caring for her father, Sandra’s responsibilities include a full-time job as a translator, as well as raising a young daughter by herself. Widowed for five years, she travels from one arrondissement to the next, into classrooms and international political and business meetings. And while Georg can’t recall any details about Sandra’s life, she remains steadfast in her devotion to him.

A white woman leans over an older white man.
Léa Seydoux as Sandra, Pascal Greggory as Georg in 'One Fine Morning.' (Carole Bethuel / Les Films Pelléas; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Her mother Françoise (Nicole Garcia), long-divorced from Georg, is Sandra’s primary source of semi-dependable support. Remarried and busily pursuing a later-in-life career as a climate change activist and protestor, Françoise still feels obligated to help Sandra settle her father into a decent nursing home.

For the first part of the film, One Fine Morning echoes the commentary made in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s movies such as Two Days, One Night. Like the Dardenne brothers, Hansen-Løve appears to be assessing and condemning a systemic societal problem — in this case health care — with Sandra as her warm-blooded avatar. The first two care facilities considered for Georg are dismal. Geriatric or end-of-life care is an unavoidable, depressing reality, but decent places seem to be financially out of reach for both him and his extended family.

One Fine Morning shifts when Sandra runs into Clément (Melvil Poupaud), a friend of her late husband’s, on one of her days crisscrossing Paris. She has been keeping her emotions contained as a way of coping with the demands of her family and career, but spending time with Clément ignites dormant desires for affection and intimacy. Of course, Hansen-Løve doesn’t make the love affair easy: Clément lives with his wife and son.

A white woman stands with arms wrapped around neck of white man
Léa Seydoux as Sandra, Melvil Poupaud as Clément in 'One Fine Morning.' (Carole Bethuel / Les Films Pelléas; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

The tensions in One Fine Morning alternate between the drama of Sandra’s affair and the practical realities of making a living and caring for a family. Paris is a romantic backdrop for Clément and Sandra as they stroll through parks and cozy up in stylish cafés. Hansen-Løve shows us Paris from their viewpoint, through the eyes of locals. In these moments, the pressures and stresses of everyday life momentarily disappear, as Parisians take advantage of the cosmopolitan city they inhabit.

Sponsored

Seydoux’s restrained performance is mostly mournful. In Bruno Dumont’s 2021 film France, the actress’s lips were painted dark, molten colors in order to emphasize her masterful pout. In One Fine Morning, Hansen-Løve focuses on her eyes, which are either on the verge of or actively spilling out enormous tears. Seydoux’s emotion, however, isn’t overwrought. Mother-daughter scenes contain ordinary, passing arguments. Françoise may be temperamental but she isn’t cold. And Sandra’s daughter isn’t precocious or prone to temper tantrums. It’s a relief to watch a movie in which family dynamics can be dysfunctional, but the members take these moments in stride rather than turning temporary friction into melodrama.

Older white woman leans against institutional wall with younger white woman in doorway
Léa Seydoux as Sandra, Nicole Garcia as Françoise in 'One Fine Morning.' (Carole Bethuel / Les Films Pelléas; Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

It’s been 40 years since Pascal Greggory appeared in Éric Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach. As Georg, his sandy blonde hair has turned white and his character’s convictions have vanished into the haze of dementia. This loss of self catalyzes Sandra’s reclamation of her own identity, and when Georg’s housing dilemma comes to a conclusion, Sandra’s life moves forward.

Each scene in One Fine Morning is an interlude featuring romance, work, friendship or family. Each tests Sandra’s character. Hansen-Løve invents these conflicts to encourage Sandra to move out of paralyzing grief, to endure, and sometimes enjoy, the various episodes that add up to the composition of her particular life. When she climbs the steps at the Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre, the entire city is spread out before her, a simple yet significant awakening. She stops looking at the ground and starts to look up, taking in the entire Parisian cityscape and the bluest sky above it.

‘One Fine Morning’ opens in Bay Area theaters on Friday, Feb. 3.