Viewers who expect a biopic will be fatally disappointed ; the movie focuses on an odd mother/daughter relationship ;freely based on Madame De Sévigné 's letters to her daughter Madame de Grignan, it's not very accessible ;the cinematography is splendid alternating luminous country landscapes and dark rooms lit by a feeble candle .But as an intimate drama, with a loose script, it could not expect to succeed commercially .
Since her birth madame de Sévigné was strongly attached to her baby ,at a time infant mortality was high and many high born ladies entrust their child to a nanny's care even if they were legitimate ones .
The film displays a sharp antagonism: the mother's firm independence of men ,( "she was a feminist before the women's lib "says Karine Viard who was enthused by the part of the marquise) contrasts with the daughter who followed her husband and who knew her place ;what did it matter if the man squandered the dowry ,spent a fortune and led the couple on the edge of bankrupcy ?
Madame de Sévigné was in love with her daughter,it was some kind of platonic incest ,and she was jealous of the husband ; she suffered when the beloved one would leave her to join her spouse ; her friend Madame de la Fayette (who wrote "la princesse de Clèves; the inspiration might have come from Sévigné ,some say )told her some home truths .
Other famous figures of the seventeenth century appear :the duc de la Rochefoucaud,and La Fontaine whose fables madame de Sévigné would adore (but she could never have her daughter share this literary passion)reads one of his works in a salon ;in the salons they would hold ,Madame De Sévigné's letters were read too .
Her most famous letters (particularly the one announcing the future marriage -which never occured -of the Sun king 's cousin La Grande Mademoiselle ) dealt with the Great Century and are a treasure for historians ( she was often nicknamed "the greatest gossip " ) ;but the woman director was not interested in this kind of letters; she chose to depict a mother/daughter relationship ;from that point of view ,her effort can be looked upon as a success.
Many letters are read in voice over as writing comes easy to the writer's quill.
