Review of Let the Sunshine In

I liked Let the Sunshine In, a new film by Claire Denis, though I didn’t realize it was supposed to be more of a type of romantic comedy, I was seeing it more as a sad movie about a middle-aged woman lonely for love. Juliette Binoche plays a divorced artist named Isabelle who wants to be in love again, and has a series of trysts with men that keep ending in disappointment, with excuses about why they cannot be together. I kept feeling so much for Isabelle, each time her eyes would light up at the possibility of love, only for them to be brimming with tears when it didn’t happen, as the men would say she was charming and attractive, but they didn’t want to “move too fast” and gently let her down with an “I’ll call you.”

Binoche looks absolutely stunning in her fifties, and she plays Isabelle as a sweet but hopelessly naïve character, a person who gets way too excited over each man she dates, projecting him as her new love. She seems more in love with the romance than an actual relationship, and worries that she is too old and missed her time for another relationship.

There are varied funny moments in the film, like the indecisive back and forth with her and a date about whether or not she should exit his car or continue talking about their feelings; a picky date ordering the bartender around with very particular demands and asking if there are gluten-free olives; and Isabelle snapping at her friends on a nature hike after they are being pretentious about their knowledge of the land to appear intellectual, with her yelling at them across a bridge, “It’s all yours! The trees, the sky, the birds, everything belongs to you!” Those moments broke up the momentum of Isabelle continually being hurt by each broken would-be romance.

I liked how Denis would hold on scenes with slow pans or one-take setups, it felt very languid and free, reflecting real life. This was an interesting film, and I’d like to watch more of Denis’ work, as the only other film of hers that I have seen is 35 Shots of Rum from 2008. I stayed for the post-film Q&A with her, and found her to be really charming and funny and quiet, just an intriguing person. Apologies for the poor quality of my image of the discussion.