"La Vie promise (The Promised Life)" is not really a movie, but a love letter from director Olivier Dahan to actress Isabelle Huppert ("The Pianist"). Dahan hatched the screenplay idea with the sole intention of getting Huppert to play the lead, and once he got her onto the set, it seems that he refused to take the camera away from her face.
Works like this demonstrate the power of the director's gaze: Although one of France's most visible actresses, Huppert had never been hailed as a ravishing beauty. But by the end of "La Vie promise," there is no doubt that she's breathtaking.
Few love relationships can match the romantic intensity Dahan has going here with Huppert -- he seemingly sacrifices the plot, coherent storytelling and a lot of common (filmmaking) sense just to enable Huppert to blossom in his lens and deliver what could be the finest performance of her career.
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