A father casts actresses to play his daughter before meeting the real thing. What could go wrong?
Pierre is the artistic director of a theater, and when his daughter Manon lets him know that she is coming to see him after a year's absence, Pierre decides to prepare for the meeting. He goes to the theater with his girlfriend Ariane and has the actresses in his troupe act out different aspects of his daughter's character. Unfortunately, this is not adequate preparation, for when Manon does show up, nothing goes quite as he imagined...
Acting
Piccoli's magnificent theatrical meltdown.
Direction
Doillon's unflinching awkwardness choreography.
Writing
Premise so specific it hurts to watch.
Director
Jacques Doillon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sandrine Bonnaire was only 19 and had already won a César for 'Vagabond' the year prior. Doillon specifically wanted her raw, untheatrical presence to clash with Piccoli's mannered performance.
This is peak 'cinema du look' adjacent French cinema—intellectual, talky, and deeply uncomfortable about bourgeois family dynamics. The title 'La Puritaine' is deeply ironic: nobody here is prudish, just performatively repressed.
FR
