Fans of French filmmaker Claire Denis’s delicate, mature dramas (‘Beau Travail’, ‘35 Shots of Rum’) will savour the sight of Juliette Binoche in almost every frame of this reflective Paris-set comedy. Lighter than some of Denis’s work, but still extremely thoughtful, it offers a brisk walk through an awkward blue period in the life of a middle-aged French artist, Isabelle (Binoche), and the relationships with various men in her life, including an unreliable banker (Xavier Beauvois, delightfully obnoxious) and a sweet but immature younger actor (Nicolas Duvauchelle). It also features a late cameo from a much-loved French acting heavyweight.
‘Let the Sunshine In’ sits alongside Mia Hansen-Løve’s similarly Paris-set 2016 drama ‘Things to Come’ as a smart and empathetic study of a woman navigating midlife uncertainties. But there’s nothing despairing here, just a certain sort of joy in witnessing such an honest, messy character portrait. Both Denis and Binoche are geniuses at making this kind of highly observant, sensitive storytelling look so easy. It helps that there’s an urbane humour, even a wry absurdity. Small in scale, ‘Let the Sunshine In’ is big on the richness of life’s highs and lows.
