Writer & Director / Mia Hanson-Løve (GOODBYE FIRST LOVE, EDEN, FATHER OF MY CHILDREN)
Stars/ Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Edith Scob and Roman Kolinka

If you are a person who is in some way involved with philosophy, then the name Laurence Hanson-Løve may be familiar to you. Mia Hanson-Løve, who is the daughter of Laurence, a philosophy professor and the writer of Philosophy A to Z, writes and directs THINGS TO COME, which is based on her mother’s life.

Changing her mother’s real-life name to Nathalie for the film, the role has been written specifically for recent Oscar-nominee Isabelle Huppert (ELLE). Nathalie, a philosophy teacher, lives in Paris with her husband and two grown-up children. She loves her job and encourages her students to question everything, despite the protests currently taking place on school grounds. Outside of work, much of her time is consumed by her sick yet possessive mother (Edith Scob). Nathalie is soon forced to confront significant change in her life, however, after an unexpected announcement.

Not a great deal comes of THINGS TO COME, a French drama that is obliquely philosophical, which only sporadically and momentarily interests.

Mia Hansen-Løve’s screenplay consists of several episodic dialogues of a philosophical nature that are shared between Nathalie’s students, sometimes involving Nathalie too, though she does her best to avoid becoming too collaborative. As THINGS TO COME progresses, the more evident it is that these stilted discourses are forming the foundation of this story. Should you find yourself in the right mindset or be enraptured by these topical discussions, then THINGS TO COME will absorb your attention like a sponge does liquid. For all others, these dialogues are bound to come off as meaningless rambling, making it difficult to sight any possible theme to extract from them. Thankfully though, the film does have a saving grace in the form of its lead actress. Isabelle Huppert completely anchors THINGS TO COME. Ultimately, her tireless acting work, the life-altering events that come the way of her character and her responses and reactions to these is what compels the viewer to remain invested until the end.

2 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion/ M (coarse language and drug use)

Trailer / THINGS TO COME

Moviedoc thanks Palace Films for the distributor pass to view and review this film.

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