Review: "Madeleine Collins" confirms this is Virginie Efira's Year

by Cláudio Alves

Belgian-born French actress Virginie Efira has been on an upward path since around 2016, when she supported Isabelle Huppert in the Oscar-nominated Elle and dazzled as the titular lawyer in Justine Triet's Victoria. The latter part earned the thespian her first César nomination, followed by citations for Sink or Swim, An Impossible Love, Bye Bye Morons, Benedetta, and, finally, a victory thanks to Revoir Paris. And yet, beyond the Francoshpere, Efira is probably best known for Verhoeven's mad nun and little else. That's going to change fast. After 2023, there's no stopping her rise to international stardom. 

This week, American cinemas welcomed Madeleine Collins, Efira's third release of the year, following career-best work in Other People's Children and Revoir Paris. Just the Two of Us and All to Play For are still awaiting distribution making for a titanic body of recent work. In a just world, this next awards season would see Virginie Efira on critics' ballots everywhere.

For all that Madeleine Collins is the Virginie Efira show, the film begins without her...

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Nathaniel in Venice: "Power of the Dog" and "Madeleine Collins"

Nathaniel reporting from Venice, day 1 part 2

Day 1 (continued). I didn’t expect death to linger so completely over Parallel Mothers and curiously my opening night at the fest kept on inviting the grim reaper in. The first day of screenings ended with Jane Campion’s The Power of Dog in which death is far less of a subject but clouds the vast Montana skies.  But first I took in Madeleine Collins, a French addition of our favorite subgenre here at The Film Experience, Women Who Lie To Themselves™  in which everyone in the film avoids talking about a death they probably should have spent lots more time processing.  

Madeleine Colllins (Antoine Barraud)
Elisa already hit the highlight of the film in her brief capsule, but it bears repeating: Virginie Efira! Virginie Efira! Virginie Efira!

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