“La vie d'une femme” chronicles the chapters of a woman's life but doesn't delve deeply enough The film starring Léa Drucker in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival

La Vie d'une femme is divided into chapters like a novel. It is precisely a book that Gabrielle, played by French star Léa Drucker, is about to become the protagonist of: a surgeon who has always put her career before her private life, giving up having children not because of her work, but because she never wanted them, the woman is followed by writer Frida (Mélanie Thierry), who observes and seduces her. From their meeting, an exchange, an encounter, and a relationship will emerge. But in which direction is Gabrielle’s life heading? What will her ending be?

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, screenwriter and director returning behind the camera after her 2021 debut with Anaïs in Love, immerses herself in Gabrielle’s existence, attempting to dig into its depths, though ultimately remaining on an unexpected surface because of the passion the filmmaker wanted to portray. The story, in fact, centers on the moment a woman so structured and efficient that she has been nicknamed Robocop begins to lose her balance.

A role that La Vie d'une femme would like to see shattered in order to reach the protagonist’s inner self, at least for those observing her from the outside, since the people around her cannot shake the idea that she is indestructible. Unfortunately, the audience is only allowed to glimpse Gabrielle’s fragilities through tiny cracks, which emerge with difficulty from that single opening that offers a slight look at her softer side - the side that wants to care for and be cared for - merely hinted at and unable to overcome the apparent intransigence that permeates her figure.

Léa Drucker is outstanding. As she did last year with Dossier 137, she returns to the Cannes Film Festival and demonstrates a naturalness in front of the camera that remains present even when portraying characters who appear rigid and distant. There is a seriousness in her face that helps her, allowing her to appear stern and composed. La Vie d'une femme should have shown what happens when that rigor softens, almost disappearing. And while the actress attempts to suggest what is happening in the protagonist’s emotional state, it is the screenplay that does not support her enough, delivering a restrained - perhaps overly restrained - work: it never digs deeply and remains on an approximate level regarding the transformation that, theoretically, Gabrielle should be experiencing during this chapter of her life.

The chapters therefore flow by, as happens in any other life. And there is little excitement for viewers, who are left watching without feeling the emotional pull between Gabrielle and Frida or managing to empathize with the marital complications of a relationship that has its turbulence while nevertheless remaining solid. The film also shows very little of the protagonist in her workplace, despite this supposedly being the central theme it wants to emphasize. Gabrielle’s life devoted to her profession is therefore more described than shown, contributing to leaving an abstract feeling surrounding both her and her story, rather than truly entering the substance of the narrative.