''Things to Come'' (french: L'Avenir) is a 2016 French-German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by

Mia Hansen-Løve Mia Hansen-Løve (born 5 February 1981) is a French film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She has won several accolades for her work. Her first feature film, '' All Is Forgiven'', won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 200 ...

. It stars

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

as middle-aged philosophy professor Nathalie Chazeaux, whose life is going through a series of separations. ''Things to Come'' received critical acclaim and was selected to compete for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. At Berlin, Hansen-Løve won the

Silver Bear for Best Director The Silver Bear for Best Director (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Regie) is an award presented annually at the Berlin International Film Festival since 1956. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury ...

. Huppert won several nominations and awards for her performance in the film, including the

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the National Society of Film Critics to honour the best leading actress of the year. Winners 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple ...

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in film-making. Winners * † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress * ‡ = Nomina ...

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress was an award given annually by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It was first introduced in 1975 to reward the best performance by a leading actress. In 2022, it was announce ...

, and the

London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actress of the Year The London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year in an annual award given by the London Film Critics' Circle. Winners * : Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress ¥ : Winner of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 19 ...

Plot

Nathalie teaches philosophy in a Parisian

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, but for her it is not just a job, it is a way of living and thinking. With a past permeated by youthful idealism, she now aims to teach students to think for themselves, using philosophical texts that stimulate confrontation and discussion. Her life flows between her work, her husband, her two children, and her ex-

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

mother who needs constant attention. But suddenly everything changes: her husband leaves her, her mother dies and Nathalie finds herself with unexpected and unusual freedom.

Cast

as Nathalie Chazeaux * André Marcon as Heinz * Roman Kolinka as Fabien *

Édith Scob Édith Scob (21 October 1937 – 26 June 2019) was a French film and theatre actress, best known for her role as the daughter with a disfigured face in '' Eyes Without a Face'' (1960). Early life and family Scob was born Édith Helena Vladimirov ...

as Yvette Lavastre * Sarah Le Picard as Chloé * Solal Forte as Johann * Élise Lhomeau as Elsa * Lionel Dray as Hugo * Grégoire Montana-Haroche as Simon * Lina Benzerti as Antonia

Production

Hansen-Løve said she wrote the role of Nathalie with

in mind. She also said Nathalie was loosely based on her mother, who was a philosophy professor and separated from her husband later in life.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on 22 June 2015 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Reception

Critical response

''Things to Come'' received critical acclaim. Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a 99%, based on 143 reviews, with an average score of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A union to cherish between a writer-director and star working at peak power, ''Things to Come'' offers quietly profound observations on life, love, and the irrevocable passage of time." At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film received an weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 28 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Box office

Things to Come grossed $5.6 million at the box office.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2016 drama films 2016 films Films directed by Mia Hansen-Løve French drama films 2010s French-language films German drama films Films about educators Films about philosophers 2010s French films 2010s German films