An average movie

Back in the 80’s-90’s, Luc Besson was probably the most ambitious French director and his popularity peaked with ‘Léon’ (a vastly overatted movie but it is still considered a masterpiece) and, at the top of his game, he seemed to quit directing and focused on producing some rather boring but very successful action flicks. However, back in 2005, he started to direct again and has made no less than 8 movies in 10 years. Unfortunately, none of them have been really impressive so far and this movie is a fine example. I mean, it is rather odd to see Besson who was very good at directing some very stylish thrillers making instead here a historical drama. The end-result was not really bad but such a historical figure like Aung San Suu Kyi deserved better. I mean, Michelle Yeoh shouldn’t be blamed, she delivered a very good performance, probably her best I have seen so far and David Thewlis was not bad as well but the directing was pretty weak. I mean, as usual with Besson, everything looked beautiful and the shots were perfectly made but he didn’t manage to make this story compelling. Indeed, the biggest mistake he made was to put such a big focus on her relationship with her husband. I’m sure he was a great guy who supported her until the end but can you imagine Richard Attenborough spending half of the running time of ‘Ghandi’ talking about Ghandi's wife? To conclude, even though it was a rather weak drama, it remains an important story and I think it is still worth a look, especially if you are interested in the subject.

6/10