One Fine Morning

Available on Mubi

One Fine Morning, written and directed by critical darling Mia Hansen-Løve, is a curious analysis of grief, womanhood, and agency, told through the eyes of Léa Seydoux’s widower, who we find navigating the almost impossible task of balancing raising her young daughter (Camille Leban) and caring for her terminally-ill father, who is suffering from a cruel and rare neurodegenerative disease. 

Seydoux, who has long established herself as one of the most intriguing leading ladies of today, is a revelation in the role, telling her character’s pathos-laden tale through a series of subtly devastating gestures and facial expressions. Her arc is made more complex by the decision to embark on an extramarital affair with her late husband’s friend (Melvil Poupaud) who, despite the depth of his feelings for her, is unsure about leaving his family.

Such a smorgasbord of tension leads viewers to expect One Fine Morning to be as tense and upsetting an affair as Eric Gravel’s Full Time, another excellent French feature about the challenges of contemporary parenthood. Hansen-Løve’s film is a decidedly more subtle affair though, with the protagonist’s situation rarely changing over the near two-hour runtime. Such restraint is always an impressive artistic choice, but it does cause proceedings to feel slightly ponderous and, dare I say it, even dull at times. 

Still, the performances of Seydoux and her supporting cast, coupled with Denis Lenoir’s gorgeous framing of Paris, means that One Fine Morning always remains an engrossing visual affair at the very least.