In Bed with Victoria

 

Written and directed by Justine Triet, In Bed with Victoria is the story of a thirty-something lawyer who attends a wedding where she meets an old friend and an old client as she finds herself in a relationship with the latter while dealing with the chaos in her personal and professional life. The film is an unconventional drama that plays into a woman dealing with her failures in life as she is trying to raise two kids as well as deal with her tumultuous life involving her ex-husband, a friend, and a former client who wants to help her. Starring Virginie Efira, Vincent Lacoste, Melvil Poupaud, Laurent Poitrenaux, Alice Daquet, Sophie Fillieres, and Laure Calamy. In Bed with Victoria is a mesmerizing and riveting film by Justine Triet.

The film revolves around a thirty-something lawyer who witnesses a violent incident at a wedding reception where she meets an old friend who is accused of the incident while also meeting a former client who would later become her assistant. It is a film that explore a woman and her tumultuous life where she is a single mother with two young daughters, an ex-husband who has become a blogger that has authored a story based on their marriage and being a lawyer with so much chaos in her life. Justine Triet’s screenplay, with additional contributions from Thomas Levy-Lasne, is straightforward in its narrative yet it is more of a character study for the film’s titular character in Victoria Spick (Virginie Efira) as she attends a wedding where she meets her old friend Vincent (Melvil Poupaud) who is with his wife Eve (Alice Daquet) and their dog. A former client in Sam (Vincent Lacoste) was also at the wedding as he was a former drug addict/dealer who has been clean for years but is in near-debt as he is hoping to go into law where Victoria hires him as an assistant as well as to watch her two young children when she’s at work.

Triet’s script also plays into the many complications in Victoria’s life as her ex-husband David (Laurent Poitrenaux) has published a story on his blog based on their marriage claiming it is fictional, but it had a lot of personal things that Victoria does not want to share. Things get worse when Victoria bumps into the bride at the wedding in Suzanna (Sabrina Seyvecou) who confronts her about Vincent as the unfortunate meeting led to a six-month suspension from practicing law. It all plays into Victoria’s sense of cynicism as well as the need for answers as she would go to her psychiatrist (Pierre Maillet) and a tarot card reader (Elsa Wolliaston) for those things. Even in engaging in sexual one-night stands with weird men would prove to be unfulfilling as she is on the verge of an emotional breakdown with Sam watching and trying to help her.

Triet’s direction does have some style in the visuals while much of it is straightforward in its approach to drama. Shot on location in Paris and areas near the city, Triet uses medium shots and close-ups to play into the interaction between characters as well as some key scenes where the first 10 minutes of the film play into the chaos of Victoria’s life as she would attend this wedding as the reception is filled with some crazy moments including animals and other bits. All of this before the title credits appear where Triet prepares everyone for what is to be this whirlwind of a woman’s life as she is about to go into total chaos. Triet does use some wide shots to establish the locations but also the world of courtrooms as they would become a key proponent for the film’s third act. Triet also knows when to slow things down when Victoria is at home or meeting a few people while much of the dramatic intensity occurs during a scene where she visits a bloggers meeting led by David that proves to be too much for her to manage.

Triet also maintains some visual repetition in the scenes where Victoria meets her psychiatrist and tarot card reader in the film’s first and second acts as the period where she is unable to work for six months highlight the messiness of everything where she would faint and pass out. The third act does have elements of dark humor as it plays into Victoria’s cynical view on love and the law where she reluctantly helps Vincent in his case against his wife who had chosen to divorce him because of a past tryst a long time ago. Vincent’s trial is one filled with a lot of humor involving a dog and a chimpanzee while Victoria’s own court battle against her husband is more serious though it plays into the idea of fiction and what can be used. It all plays into a woman on the verge of a breakdown as these two different legal events force her to confront her cynicism as well as figuring out who is there for her in her life. Overall, Triet crafts a compelling and witty film about a woman’s tumultuous life as she is being pushed to the edge.

Cinematographer Simon Beaufils does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of low-key lighting for many of the interior/exterior scenes at night as well as aiming for a naturalistic look for many of the daytime exterior scenes. Editor Laurent Senechal does amazing work with the editing with its stylish approach to montages as well as allowing shots to linger for a bit longer to play into the drama and humor. Production designer Olivier Meidinger does excellent work with the look of Victoria’s apartment in its messy state as well as the look of the courtrooms that Victoria would attend. Costume designer Charlotte Vayasse does fantastic work with the costumes in some of the designer dresses that Victoria and the other women wears as well as the robes the attorney wears.

Makeup artists Charlotte Desnos, Michelle Van Brussel, and Hue Lan Van Duc do terrific work with some of the film’s minimal makeup work in the look of the women as well as the messy state at the wedding reception sequence. Visual effects supervisor Niranjan Siva does wonderful work with some of the film’s minimal visual effects that are set dressing for a few locations. Sound editor Olivier Touche does superb work with the sound in the way sparse sounds are presented in interior locations as well as the sound of a court room and at parties. Music supervisor Thibault Deboaisne does nice work with the film’s music soundtrack that features an array of music ranging from classical to pop music with contributions from Metronomy, Harry Nilsson, Chilly Gonzales, Mel Torme, and Sarah Lancman.

The casting by Cynthia Arra and Youna de Peretti is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles from co-writer Thomas Levy-Lasne as the groom, Sabrina Seyvecou as the bride, Arthur Harari as a chimpanzee trainer, Claire Burger as a former lover of Vincent who accused him of rape, Julie Moulier as a judge in Vincent & Eve’s case, Liv Harari and Jeanne Arra-Bellanger as David and Victoria’s daughters, Elsa Wolliaston as the tarot card reader, Pierre Maillet as Victoria’s psychiatrist, and Sophie Fillieres as a friend of Victoria who helps her out early on while also dealing with the chaos that is happening around Victoria. Laure Calamy is fantastic as Victoria’s lawyer Christelle who defends her against David where she tries to help Victoria in the case. Alice Daquet is superb as Vincent’s wife Eve who claims that he stabbed her while later suing him for divorce with claims over what he has done in their marriage though Victoria feels sympathetic towards her despite defending Vincent.

Laurent Poitrenaux is excellent as Victoria’s ex-husband David as this blogger that authored a story based on their marriage that is filled with salacious details that Victoria does not want to reveal publicly as he tries to manipulate the courts about what is fiction and reality. Melvil Poupaud is brilliant as Vincent as an old friend of Victoria that she meets at a wedding where he is accused of stabbing his wife where he asks for her help only to later help him when Eve sues him for divorce following a brief reconciliation that becomes even more toxic. Vincent Lacoste is amazing as Sam as a former client of Victoria who attends the wedding as he asks for a job in being Victoria’s assistant while falling for her as he deals with her troubled lifestyle and emotional breakdown. Finally, there’s Virginie Efira in a tremendous performance as Victoria Spick as a thirty-something lawyer who is raising two young daughters where Efira brings in some humor to her role as a woman that is being pushed to the edge while also yearning for some companion and stability despite her cynicism as it is one of Efira’s finest performances.

In Bed with Victoria is a sensational film from Justine Triet that features a great leading performance from Virginie Efira. Along with its supporting cast, compelling character study of a woman with a chaotic lifestyle, wondrous visuals, and an exhilarating music soundtrack. It is an unconventional comedy-drama that plays into a woman navigating the messiness of her professional and personal life in her search for stability. In the end, In Bed with Victoria is a phenomenal film by Justine Triet.

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