COPACABANA

Pepe's View:

I love the work of Isabelle Huppert and in this film I saw another level of her talent.  She plays a "hippyesque" charater full of fun, whimsy, irresponsibility and yet still a lovely caring sensitive person who just does not seem to fit any mould our society has provided.  Director Marc Fitoussi has delicately prevented us from seeing "Babou" as a sterotype or parody but allowed us to understand, empathise with and care for the character.
Her daughter Esmerelda played by Huppert's real life daughter Lolita Chammah is the "sensible" one of the family who wants nothing more than to settle down maturely and live happily ever after.  She sees her mother as an embarrassment and, after an early tempestuous scene where she idicates she does not  want her mother to come to her wedding, Babou decides to attempt to live up to her daughter's expectations and take on a full time job.  This leads to a job with a timeshare company at the Belgian seaside and, although she is incredibly successful immediately earning a promotion, her social conscience and trust in other human beings leads her to trouble when the homeless couple she befriends and allows to spend each night in one of the finished timeshare units are found out and Babou loses her job.
This is not before we realise that her influence over her daughter is stronger than she thinks and in a strange twist of fate, we find Babou coaching her future son in law how to reassure Esmeralda and rescue the couple's stumbling relationship.
The Copacabana of the title refers to Babou's obsession with Argentina and her constant dream of visiting this exotic country.  It is also symbolic of Babou's dream to live a life less shackled by society's rules  - neither dream seems to be possible for her until she befriends a troupe of Argentinian dancers and finds a way, at least temporarily, for her to satisfy both her dreams.
A lovely, slow paced movie that is held together by the central performance of Huppert.  A light hearted romp with an underlying serious examination of what constitutes success in our world.

My Score:  8/10

Ma's View:

Not much too add to this summation - great movie, great actress, great script and so much to say about the shallowness and inhumanity of our consumer society.  Funny to realise that hippies were a global phenomenon (as opposed to only English speaking!) and lovely to watch the talented Isabelle Huppert portray a mature age hippie who has remained true to her ideals only to find her own daughter moving over into the mainstream of conservative conformism.  What a dilemma - lose your daughter or compromise your principles?  The character of Babou manages to tread this fine line in a heart-warming and funny exposé of the capitalist concept of time-share apartments.  Although impractical and capricious, the free-spirited Babou is full of  humanity, generosity and love of life and it is these gifts that she imparts to her daughter at the wedding, symbolised in the wonderful dance presentation of her latest venture - her own dance troupe from Argentina.
PS  The daughter is played superbly by Huppert's own daughter, Lolita Chammah - someone to watch for in future!  Like mother like daughter!

My score:  9/10