‘One Fine Morning’ movie review: Léa Seydoux, Mia Hansen-Løve breathe life into a bittersweet tale of love and loss

A still from ‘One Fine Morning’
| Photo Credit: MUBI

In her latest, Mia Hansen-Løve strips Léa Seydoux of her glamour and magnetism to turn her into Sandra, a thirty-something widowed translator in Paris who lives in a modest apartment with her daughter Linn (Camille Leban Martins); she always has places to be at and things to do. Sandra eases into the muted tones of her wardrobe and dons a tidy backpack to help her access the world — she seems intentional in not wanting to stand out in a crowd.

Most of her time is dedicated to caring for Georg (Pascal Greggory), her ailing father, and her young daughter. A philosophy professor by profession, Georg dedicated all his life to thinking but unfortunately has forgotten the ways of life after being diagnosed with Benson’s syndrome, a rare neurodegenerative condition that impairs his mind, vision and memory — he feels defeated over not being able to read his copies of Kant and Kafka. His only respite from the crippling ailment is his companion Leïla (Fejria Deliba) for whom he yearns in the empty corridors of his hospice.

Troubled by her father’s condition, Sandra seeks comfort in the company of an old friend, Clément (Melvil Poupaud), a cosmo-chemist (he insists he isn’t an astrophysicist on multiple occasions) who inspects space dust across the world. Their friendship soon morphs into a romantic relationship that kickstarts Sandra’s exploration of her self while Clément focuses his energy on hiding their affair from his wife and son. Sandra shifts from looking at herself as a full-time caretaker and starts embracing her multitudes; the otherwise formal shirt and muted pants-wearing widowed mother does not shy away from inspecting her femininity and cheekily slips into a sundress when Clément is around.

The film’s weakest link is the treatment it metes out to politics — like using the Second World War veterans as extras or the throw-away statements about her mother voting for Macron — that dampen the film’s inquisitiveness.

Léa, resembling an everywoman, dances to the tunes of Mia’s tones and is agile in translating the sentiments of the two very distinct worlds she is a part of. She subtly invites the audience to carefully look at and understand Sandra’s psyche. Her performance is only enhanced by the compact frames shot on the 35mm film.

Mia considers this 112-minute-long movie the most autobiographical of all her works. After having lost her father to Benson’s syndrome during the pandemic and never getting the chance to bid farewell to him, One Fine Morning feels like her final goodbye to his spirit and her attempt at seeking closure. In an interview with The Guardian, she confessed to working with Pascal Greggory because he reminds her of her father. Her references in the movie — from Kafka to Mon amant de St Jean — bring the audience closer to understanding the circumstances Sandra finds herself in.

Finally, Georg’s voiceover in the final moments of the feature cements its authority as a film that is courageous in exploring the meaning of life and death through mundane moments.

One Fine Morning is currently streaming on MUBI