Cringe: ⭐
Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
She’s the most beautiful, most short-sighted, most sentimental, most perplexing, most obstinate, most untrustworthy and most troubling of heroines. The lady in the car has never seen the sea. On the run from the police, she keeps telling herself that she’s not crazy… Only…
Introduction#
The Lady In The Car With Glasses And A Gun, also known as La Dame Dans L’auto Avec Des Lunettes Et Un Fusil, is a 2015 French film directed by Joann Sfar. Freya Mavor stars as Dany, the titular lady, and is supported by Benjamin Biolay as Michel, Elio Germano as Stefano, and Stacy Martin as Anita. The Lady, as I will refer to it moving forward, seems to be a remake of a 1970 film by the same name, which I have not seen.
What drew me to this one was the obscenely long name and promise of Lady and Gun in the marketing images. Armed with that knowledge, I figured it might be a bloody revenge flick like Revenge (2018), which I rather enjoyed. As it turns out, pleasantly in this case, I couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
Plot#
The Lady opens with Dany dancing crazily on the beach, like someone who just had the weight of the world lifted off their shoulders at the same time they did a massive line of cocaine, before abrubtly cutting to an image where she is putting on her glasses. We can then see her demurely adjusting her outfit while talking with other women in a bathroom, before repeating to herself I’ve never seen the sea, which is kind of her tagline. Roll Credits!
The first part of the plot is unravelled pretty quickly; Dany is secretary for Michel, and he asks her to work late on typing up a 50 page report he hand-wrote. This might not sound like a lot of work, until you realize she has to do it on a type-writer. Michel asks that she come and stay at his place that night so it could be done before he flies out first thing tomorrow, but he does it in the weirdest, creepiest way possible. Basically, it feels like he is luring her out there, for… something, promising that his wife, Anita, would be glad to see her. Evidently they are old friends from “the acadamy”.
Dany, of course, agrees to this, because if she didn’t we wouldn’t have much of a film. Despite the rush to get the report typed up, they have time to stop at Dany’s place so she can change and grab a bag. This is where we find out about the director’s foot and leg fetish, a la Quentin Tarantinto. This film is absolutely littered with cinematic shots of Dany’s legs, feet, and shoes.
Fast forward to them arriving at Michel’s house. There is some back and forth with his wife, Anita, and her daughter. Like Michel, Anita is acting rather mysterious and odd, seemingly acting like she is glad to see her old acquaintance. When Dany states she forgot her nighdress, Anita offers her what can only be described as a barely-there piece of lingerie. It is also abruptly revealed that Michel, Anita, and the daughter are going out for the night and will be back late. This leaves plenty of time for a montage composed of typing, thighs, and smoking, which is rather beautifully shot and edited, and set to era-appropriate music.
The next morning, the couple spring another surprise on Dany. She has completed typing the report, but they now insist that she come with them to the airport and drive the car back. Despite her very reasonable protests about them taking a taxi, or parking at the airport, Michel is adamant. This is when we first meet The Car, like from the title, which ends up being it’s own character of sorts. It is absolutely gorgeous, a classic teal Thunderbird, and like Dany’s legs, Joann goes out of his way to basically shoot car porn.
Dany is, of course, very nervous about all of this, perhaps now sensing that something strange is afoot. Nonetheless, she agrees, probably cause Michel is signing her paychecks. They head down to the airport, the couple and the kid leave, and Dany gets into the car to drive it back. This is where I’ll leave it with the plot, as I don’t to ruin the rest of it for you, but what follows is a long, slow, mysterious burn.
Review#
The Lady is beautifully shot film, with plenty of layers of mystery to keep you entertained. The acting is top notch, editing on point, and people who like women’s legs or classic cars are sure to appreciate the direction. Freya Mavor really stands out in her lead role here, and I’m excited to check out some of her other work.
I went into this film expecting a generic violent “woman-scorned” kind of revenge film, but it ended up grabbing my attention to the end. Is she crazy? What does it all mean and why? These are questions you will have and try to answer while you enjoy this modern masterpiece. Also, why is she obsessed with the sea?
The Lady scores one out of five cringe stars, the lowest possible number, as it isn’t cringy at all. On the enjoyment front, it gets four out of five stars, only missing the perfect score due to it being a slow burn, which requires a good amount of concentration to enjoy fully. I would recommend this to any cinema fans who aren’t afraid to put in the effort, which may include subtitles if you do not know French.
Thank you for checking out the inaugural post for the Den of Disappointment, I hope to see you in the next one! Will it be a disappointment like this one, or another excellent piece of film-making?