Adèle Exarchopoulos Stars in Uneven Drama About Actor's Drinking Problem

Adèle Exarchopoulos appears in a new film from director Jeanne Herry, playing an actor named Garance who struggles with alcohol. Exarchopoulos previously shared the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2013 for Blue Is the Warmest Colour.

Garance works as an assistant stage manager at a Paris repertory company and expects a speaking role in the next season. Instead she is sent to a touring company that performs for schoolchildren. She arrives late to meetings and parties hard each night, often waking with a hangover.

The company fires her in a group meeting and urges her to seek help. She begins a relationship with set designer Pauline, played by Sara Giraudeau, but her drinking creates tension and leads to anxiety and depression. Her pregnant sister, who offers blunt advice, is later diagnosed with cancer.

A doctor confronts Garance about her drinking and expresses surprise at her appearance. Garance admits her liver is failing and decides to stop. She quits without attending AA meetings and the film shows the change as relatively easy. The story presents a thin account of recovery that leaves key questions about long-term change unanswered.