One of the reasons I was keen to see the beautiful French drama Paris Memories (aka Revoir Paris) is because it’s from filmmaker Alice Winocour. Her previous film, the magnificent Proxima, from 2020, instantly transformed me into her fan. Eva Green plays a single-mom astronaut selected for a year-long mission to the International Space Station that is the final stepping stone to the mission after that: the first Mars landing. This is near-future but not science-fiction stuff: Winocour keeps the tale entirely grounded in all senses of the word, from the mundanity of the rigor of the astronaut training to the tedium of the sexism Green’s Sarah faces. And in doing so, the director and her star, who is terrific here, bring a new humanity — an almost fundamental humanity — a story oft-told but never before with this level of compelling everyday intimacy. (Read my 2020 review.)
US: stream on Kanopy; rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: rent on BFI Player; rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
See Proxima at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
