Directed by Marc Fitoussi, (4/5).
Copacabana is a French comedy about Babou (Isabelle Huppert), a mother who is faced with a relationship break up between her and her daughter, Esmeralda (Lolita Chammah). Esmeralda is very unlike the free spirited gypsy of Victor Hugo’s novel. She is embarrassed by Babou to the point that she refuses to invite her to her wedding. Babou cannot conform to the ideal of the conservative, obedient mother that her daughter craves. She is wild and beautiful, has wispy red hair and elaborate blue and green eye makeup. She is an older woman who long ago became trapped in a love affair with bohemian adventures and charming rebellion.
In Babou’s attempt to impress her daughter and be invited to her wedding, she finds a job selling time-share apartments in Belgium. This job is contrary to Babou’s way of life, but she remains determined to prove herself. After borrowing her reluctant friend’s car, she arrives at a huge building of empty apartments in a fairly deserted Belgian seaside town. She is shown to one of the rooms in the almost finished apartment building in which she will both be living and working. The ocean mist that sits over this Belgian town acts as walls within which she paces, waiting for change. However, it seems Babou can attract adventure even in such a desolate place and what’s more, she finds herself good at her work as a sales-person.
The film does not dwell on hopelessness but rather places the excellent Huppert in a white washed room to let her touch everything around her with colour. Copacabana is about the relationship between a mother and daughter but it also is about those people who are loving and lovable but start itching if they find themselves settling down. This is presented through well-framed shots and an often lovely and sometimes lonesome mise-en-scène.
The script may lack in perfectly executed wit and humorous cynicism but the film remains charming. Copacabana is one of the after-dinner mints that you sometimes find on the pillow in a hotel; a simple gesture which is both easily consumed and sweet.
Copacabana
