Fabienne Dangeville (Catherine Deneuve) is the worst kind of
prima donna. Endlessly vain and egotistical, she makes for one of the rare
cinematic instances of the separation of art and artist from the perspective of
the artist. She has a strained relationship with her daughter, writer Lumir
(Juliette Binoche), but rather than being at all concerned with that strain,
she just focuses even more on her acting craft. So long as the audience
forgives her transgressions, that’s all that matters.
