This Life of Mine

Introduction by Agathe Bonitzer and Adam Bonitzer on March 10

A beloved performer, the late Sophie Fillières was also an influential writer-director, cited as a key influence by filmmakers including Anatomy of a Fall’s Justine Triet. For her final feature—which she finished shooting shortly before her death—Fillières cast another important French actress-writer-director to inhabit a leading role inspired by Fillière’s own experience. Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others, Look at Me) stars as Barbie, a middle-aged writer whose mental health is unraveling. Alienated from her grown children, the single woman is forced to confront her problems when an uncanny encounter with a man who claims to know Barbie lands her in the hospital. Simultaneously fearless, exasperating, and endearing, Jaoui’s performance probes the obscure inner life of a woman whose complexities and contradictions ultimately lead her on a journey of discovery, growth, and rebuilding; the resulting film is as hilarious as it is poignant—a fitting last work from a great filmmaker.