This film is currently unavailable
Abuse of Weakness
Isabelle Huppert stars a a filmmaker who falls for a conman, in Catherine Breillat's fearless study in will and perversity, loosely based on events from her own life.
Director: Catherine Breillat
Overview
We expect Catherine Breillat to be confrontation but Abuse of Weakness finds her at her most compelling, and arguably most personal. Isabelle Huppert plays director and author Maud who, following a stroke that leaves her partly paralysed, chooses an unlikely lead actor for her next project - Vilko Piran (Kool Shen), an inveterate con man turned literary star. While their film collaboration is slow to materialise, the pair's relationship becomes a fraught battle for control as Maud finds herself in thrall to Vilko, writing endless cheques to fund his lifetsyle. 'Abuse of Weakness' is a legal term, but Breillat questions the real meaning of the phrase, leaving the viewer to determine whether Maud truly is weak or whether the exploitation she willingly undergoes is her way of excercising power and control.
What makes the story especially charged is the fact that similar events happened to Breillat herself; indeed, this is her second treatment of the episode, following her autobiographical book of 2009. Helping her cast a pitiless searchlight on her own/Maud's complicity in her ruin is Isabelle Huppert's mesmerising performance, which - while uncannily close to the real Breillat - transcends impersonation to become a fearless study in will and perversity. In this searching and soberly executed drama, rapper turned actor Kool Shen offers unnerving support as Vilko, the user who's also, we increasinly suspect, the used.
Related
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies
Drama 1963 91 mins Director: Peter Brook
Peter Brook’s Palme d’Or-nominated adaption of the classic novel by William Golding.
Certain Women Certain Women
Drama 2015 107 mins Director: Kelly Reichardt
Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone and Jared Harris star in Kelly Reichardt's acclaimed portmanteau of women's stories; winner of Best Film at BFI London Film Festival 2016.
Evil Does Not Exist Evil Does Not Exist
Drama 2023 106 mins Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to Drive My Car is a hauntingly enigmatic eco-thriller. Winner of Best Film at the BFI London Film Festival.
Rare Beasts Rare Beasts
Comedy 2021 92 mins Director: Billie Piper
Billie Piper stars in her own directorial debut, a no-holds-barred, Fleabag-esque anti-romcom about a modern woman’s struggles in work and love.
8½ 8½
Drama 1963 138 mins Director: Federico Fellini
Fellini triumphantly conjured himself out of writer's block with this magnum opus about a film director experiencing his own creative crisis.
Interior. Leather Bar. Interior. Leather Bar.
2013 60 mins Director: James Franco and Travis Mathews
James Franco and Travis Mathews recreate explicit footage cut, rumoured to be lost, from one of the most notorious gay features ever made.
Love and Death on Long Island Love and Death on Long Island
Comedy 1998 89 mins Director: Richard Kwietniowski
John Hurt stars in Richard Kwietniowski’s comedy of fame and obsession about an older man (Hurt) who becomes infatuated with a young Hollywood actor (Jason Priestley), and proceeds to track him down.
Celine and Julie Go Boating Celine and Julie Go Boating
Drama 1974 194 mins Director: Jacques Rivette
Jacques Rivette’s biggest commercial hit is an exhilarating combination of theatricality, paranoia and ‘la vie parisienne’, around an entrancing examination of making and watching films.
Irma Vep Irma Vep
Drama 1996 99 mins Director: Olivier Assayas
Olivier Assayas' sexy and stylish ode to the madness of filmmaking, with Maggie Cheung as the Hong Kong movie star playing a Catwoman-style anti-heroine.
The Souvenir The Souvenir
Drama 2018 120 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
Sight and Sound's 2019 film of the year is the compelling, semi-autobiographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg.
EO EO
Drama 2022 86 mins Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
The joint winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and Academy Award-nominated, EO is a strangely wonderful tale where the dark and light of humanity is laid bare.
Sex Is Comedy Sex Is Comedy
Comedy 2002 95 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
A director struggles to film a difficult sex scene between two actors who happen to hate each other, in Catherine Breillat's witty exploration of intimacy coordination.
Romance Romance
Drama 1999 98 mins Director: Catherine Breillat
Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.
Night Tide Night Tide
Fantasy 1961 85 mins Director: Curtis Harrington
A young Dennis Hopper is on shore leave from the Navy when he falls for a mysterious woman who performs as a mermaid, in this intoxicating cult classic from underground filmmaker Curtis Harrington.
Apostasy Apostasy
Drama 2018 95 mins Director: Dan Kokotajlo
A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo - a prizewinner at BFI London Film Festival 2017.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
The White Reindeer The White Reindeer
Horror 1953 68 mins Director: Erik Blomberg
The wife of a reindeer herder acquires a potion to make her an irresistible object of desire, but at a terrible cost, in this extraordinary vampiric fairy-tale set amongst the starkly beautiful fells of Finnish Lapland.
The Honeymoon Killers The Honeymoon Killers
Crime 1969 107 mins Director: Leonard Kastle
The disturbing true story of a pair of twisted lovers who posed as siblings to seduce, con and - if necessary - kill.
Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies
Drama 1963 91 mins Director: Peter Brook
Peter Brook’s Palme d’Or-nominated adaption of the classic novel by William Golding.