''Eva'' is a 2018

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

written and directed by

Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot (; born 5 February 1947) is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. Life and career Born in Paris, Jacquot began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films, incl ...

, based on the 1945 novel '' Eve'' by James Hadley Chase. Starring

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

and

Gaspard Ulliel Gaspard Thomas Ulliel (; 25 November 198419 January 2022) was a French actor. He was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising'' (2007), fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic '' Saint Laurent'' (201 ...

, the film tells the story of a young fraudster who causes the death of a girl who loves him because of his obsession for an older high-class prostitute. It was selected to compete for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

in the main competition section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot

Bertrand, a handsome young man who works as a male prostitute in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, leaves an elderly writer dead in his bath and steals the typescript of his just-finished play. Selling it to a publisher as his own work, it proves a success. Both the work and the apparent author greatly impress the publisher's assistant Caroline, who soon has Bertrand sleeping in her flat. The pressure is now on Bertrand to write a follow-up, and he retreats to a mountain chalet to work. There he meets an older woman who completely fascinates him. This is Eva, who lives in her husband's elegant house and works as an expensive prostitute. She says her husband is on a prolonged business trip, but it is revealed to viewers that he is in jail. Obsessed by the enigmatic character of Eva and the things she tells him, Bertrand tells his publisher that she will be the subject of his next work. The publisher secretly books a session with Eva to see if she is real. Caroline, sensing that Bertrand is avoiding her, turns up secretly at the chalet and finds Eva in the bath. Rushing away in despair, she crashes her car and is killed. Bertrand goes secretly to Eva's house, where a stranger beats him up so thoroughly that he is hospitalised. When released, he sees Eva in the street with a man viewers know is her just-released husband. She signals wordlessly to Bertrand to keep away.

Cast

as Eva *

as Bertrand *

Julia Roy Julia Roy (born 12 December 1989) is a French actress and screenwriter. Biography Julia Roy was born on 12 December 1989 in Paris, France. She grew up in Vienna, Austria. After graduating from the Lycée Français de Vienne, she attended the Cou ...

as Caroline * Marc Barbé as Georges Martin * Richard Berry as Régis, the publisher

Release

The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2018. It was released in France on 7 March 2018.

Reception

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews, and an average rating of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". David Ehrlich of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' gave the film a grade of C−, writing: "Stuck between a high-class thriller and a trashy Cinemax wank, Benoît Jacquot's latest feature ultimately offers the pleasures of neither." Jordan Mintzer of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' wrote, "''Eva'' slides off the rails during a denouement that goes full on B-movie without much credibility."

References

External links