The tides of cinema history have somehow obscured Liliane de Kermadec’s Aloïse, where one role is inhabited by two of French cinema’s greatest actors. Isabelle Huppert plays Aloïse Corbaz—who was admired by the art brut movement but kept institutionalized for the last 46 years of her life, often deemed a key outsider artist—as a young woman, while Delphine Seyrig (who’d star in Jeanne Dielman, produced by de Kermadec that same year) portrays her in the latter half of life. Using the original negatives, a 4K restoration was undertaken by TF1 Studio, La Cinémathèque française, and Cinémathèque suisse at Hiventy and Transperfect laboratories. Ahead of its Friday opening at Metrograph from Several Futures, we’re pleased to exclusively debut a new trailer and poster for the Paul Vecchiali-produced feature.
Here’s the official synopsis: “One of a handful of female outsider artists to earn praise from the early exponents of art brut, Aloïse Corbaz—born in modest circumstances in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1886; institutionalized as a schizophrenic in 1918; and kept under psychiatric observation until her death in 1964—is portrayed here by two of the premiere European actresses of their respective generations: Isabelle Huppert, who plays Corbaz as a ruminative, searching young woman, and Delphine Seyrig, astonishingly committed as the elder artist.”
Find preview and poster below:
