Films as innovative as Citizen Kane inevitably have a lot to answer for as other - often inferior - talents divide up the techniques like relatives dividing house and contents of their late family member so no prizes for guessing what gave Francis Girod the idea to punctuate the story of Romy Schneider's banker via newsreels which conveniently display the dates, changing styles etc. As a bisexual Schneider should not be too surprised when she gets shafted by both male and female elements though arguably the one that hurt most was courtesy of Jean-Louis Trintignant who had her thrown into jail on a fraud charge, but then if you will offer 8 per cent interest when all around you they're offering one you're bound to be unpopular. For good measure Schneider is involved in a car crash and a stint in a mental hospital so you could argue she welcomed the bullet in the back albeit it came at the height of her fame. This is an absorbing film and if Schneider walks away with it that's not to say that Trintignant, Claude Brasseur and - in smaller roles - Daniel Auteuil and Thierry Lhermitte are chopped liver. Very well worth watching.
Review of La banquière
