The irrepressible Isabelle Huppert (Macadam Stories, AF FFF2016; Valley of Love, AF FFF2016) features as the eponymous Mrs. Hyde in this eccentric revision of Robert Louis Stevenson’s literary classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, directed by the offbeat, award-winning Serge Bozon (La France, 2007). Mme Géquil (Huppert) is a prim, meek and unconventional physics teacher at a working class suburban Parisian high school, often derided by her fellow colleagues for her inability to engage students and control the unruly ones. On an appropriately stormy night, she is struck by lightning in her private laboratory and turns into something decidedly "different". Noticeably closer to Jerry Lewis’ 1963 classic The Nutty Professor and Serge Gainsbourg’s 1968 hit Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde than Stevenson’s dark tale of out-ofcontrol ego, Mrs. Hyde is still uniquely Serge Bozon in its idiosyncratic style. A brilliant supporting cast – including Romain Duris (The Spanish Apartment) as the school’s principal – helps to leverage the laughs, while underpinning it all is a sneaky exploration of the relationship between the privileged and under-privileged in contemporary French society.
Tuesday 27th February
95 min
MA15+
Film Festival
