The film Eva by Benoît Jacquot was shown at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. The film stars Gaspard Ulliel and Isabelle Huppert.
The point of this film was to show the relations between a young man and a dangerously seductive woman. The choice of the lead actress made the film unsuccessful and doomed it to failure. Isabelle Huppert was picked because of her name, but for this role she was not suitable. The aging music teacher from Haneke’s The Piano Teacher does not have what it takes to be femme fatale anymore. She plays a prostitute with whom a young and attractive man falls in love and ends up following her. Huppert does not look like a prostitute — she is too old and lacks sex appeal. Her bony figure is always hidden under a bathrobe, her ashen face is unsuccessfully covered up with bright makeup. There is no chemistry between the actors.
That this young and attractive man falls in love with this woman is implausible and stupid. Gaspard Ulliel’s character seems self-confident and does not look like the kind of person who would pursue an old prostitute — it would seem more natural of the situation was reversed.
The novel Eve by James Hadley Chase was previously adapted by Joseph Losey in 1962 with young and attractive Jeanne Moreau in the lead, who was in her early thirties. Isabelle Huppert is 60 years old and does not look young. She also looks intelligent and not vulgar. An bright woman of her age can always find a better way to earn an income than to work as a prostitute. Also her exorbitantly high fee is completely unrealistic — only a very small percentage of very young and sexy women have such a salary.
The film is made in a dull manner, it is neither mysterious nor realistic enough. None of the characters are compelling, the motivations are lacking.
Losey’s film was not perfect but it was still much better than this new version, but it was beautifully filmed and it is strange that the director decided to make a new adaptation which ended up being hugely inferior.
It is unclear what genre does this picture belong to, it does not work either as a crime, drama or romance film.
