My Zoe

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My Zoe
France, Germany | 2018 | 93’ | DCP | Colour | English, German, French | Group: B
Director: Julie Delpy

Nothing in her previous work could prepare us for Julie Delpy’s sixth film, a hard-hitting story of loss, grief and recovery that takes a stunning third acttwist into near-future science fiction. At the film’s centre is Delpy herself,giving the performance of her career as the single mother of six year old Zoe whose happy life with new lover and new job is continually strained by the presence of her toxic ex-husband, Zoe’s co-parent. The ensuing plot is too surprising to reveal here, but Delpy the writer/director plunges us into a whirlwind of pain while Delpy the actress portrays it with a visceral, nakedrage. It’s a metaphor of sorts for the pressures of shared custody, and is unabashedly told from the woman’s perspective, refreshingly reminding us that film-makers as fearless as Delpy will always challenge the narrative wethink we know.

– Mike Goodridge

Following a divorce, geneticist Isabelle is trying to rebuild her life. She has a new boyfriend and plans to revitalise her career. But ex-husband James can’t accept this and makes her life difficult in the custody battle for their daughter Zoe. When a tragedy strikes, the already broken family’s world is shattered. In reaction, Isabelle decides to take fate into her own hands.

Born in Paris in 1969, Julie Delpy is a director, writer and actress. She made her stage debut at the age of five, and since the age of 14, was a busy film actress collaborating with some of the world’s most respected and sophisticated directors, including Jean-Luc Godard on Détective (1985); Leos Carax on Mauvais Sang (1986); Bertrand Tavernier for Beatrice (1987) and Carlos Saura The Dark Night (1989). She achieved international acclaim in Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa (1991), in Volker Schloendorff’s Voyager (1991) and in in Krzysztof Kieślowskis’s Three Colours: White. She moved to the US in the early 1990s and there graduated form New York University Tisch School Of The Arts with ambitions to become a director. She co-wrote the acclaimed “Before” series with director Richard Linklater and actor Ethan Hawke: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Her films as a director are: 2 Days In Paris (2007), The Countess (2009), The Skylab (2011), 2 Days In New York (2012), Lolo (2015) and My Zoe (2019), which had its world premiere at Toronto in September.