Loosely based on a true story, Story of Women (Une Affaire De Femmes) traces the tragic trajectory of a French housewife turned abortionist in 40s Nazi-occupied France. The movie successfully has all the aspects of a great historical film---personal struggle of love and drama against political backdrop, lushly local fashions and lifestyles, and memorable, moving characters and events. Picks you up and plants you in small-town 40s France of hand-milled soaps, fading floral wallpaper, and street prostitutes. There are heart-wrenching moments of physical and psychological struggles women have to go through that make you so grateful times have changed. The movie doesn't dwell on tragic happenings, but rather lets them silently happen and pass, deliberately adding to the ruthlessness of the events even time doesn't care to heal. Hubbert is on my list of most admirable actresses: she takes on the most psychologically complex, and at the same time, temporally and geographically distant characters that require an amazing amount of character intuition and empathy to truly act the part. Here's another (dark, very dark) movie of hers that left me shaking, disturbed, and mind-blown.
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