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"Life-affirming … Things to Come signals a young filmmaker's ascent to true greatness, although Hansen-Løve's standing as one of France's most naturally gifted filmmakers is confirmed long before the closing stages of this remarkable film." – Little White Lies
Parisian philosophy professor Nathalie (Isabelle Huppert, also seen in Elle, in this year's program) is at a crossroads. Her husband of 25 years has just left her for a younger woman, her two children have grown up and moved out of home, her publishing house no longer needs her and her cantankerous mother is increasingly erratic. In some ways she's freer than she's ever been, but freedom without choice can be the heaviest burden of all.
Winning filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve (All is Forgiven, MIFF 2007) the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, Things to Come is a magisterial, emotionally potent study of middle-age's transitions, gifts and new opportunities. Driven by a magnetic central performance from Huppert and wearing its intellectual and philosophical concerns proudly, Things to Come is a film of complexity and courage that asks what a considered life is worth when all around you is falling away.
"With this bracingly intelligent and satisfying collage of moments from a life, Hansen-Løve is beginning to look like [Rohmer's] creative heir." – Screen Daily
