For his first picture outside of Japan, Koreeda, moves away from his trademark engagingly wistful depictions of outsiders, for this rather ill-fitting tale of an ageing French acting legend and her extended family. Denueve is Fabienne a seventysomething actress who has just published her memoirs titled, fancifully it turns out, ‘La Vérité’. Her daughter Lumir (Binoche) has just arrived from California with her actor husband Hank (Hawke, a bit gurny) and their young daughter Clementine (Grenier, delightful). Lumir is annoyed that Fabienne’s book shamelessly misrepresents the mother and daughter relationship. Meanwhile, Fabienne is shooting a science fiction film ‘Memories of My Mother’ in which the chief character, a space-faring mother played by up-and-coming actress Manon Lenoir (Clavel) retains her youthful appearance while her daughters age. The showbiz milieu and ‘All About Eve’-seeming relationship between Fabienne and young upstart actress Lenoir, feel more suited to Pedro Almodóvar or François Ozon, than the gently humanist Koreeda. Ultimately though the film is a tribute to Deneuve and she rises to the occasion delivering an often hilarious and commanding turn as the catty and blithe diva matriarch.

The Truth is available on Video on Demand on Curzon Home Cinema