Valley of Love (2015)
This hinges a lot on the two lead stars performances and they both do an admirable job. I just don’t think what they have to work with reaches above mildly interesting. Huppert and Depardieu are very convincing in portraying a divorced couple with a long history. Plenty of bickering and resentment, but they both have some tenderness and compassion for each other deep down. But the whole film feels very constructed, and it even sort of acknowledges that by its premise with their dead son sending them on a sort of travel quest through Death Valley. The extreme heat brings out some really unappealing character traits in both of them, while also sort of bringing them closer together. Despite some heavy subject matter with the loss of their son to suicide, the film was emotional flat to me.
Rating: 3.5