Mélanie Laurent adapted, directs and stars in The Mad Women’s Ball (Le Bal Des Folles), a French Amazon Original that premiered in the Galas section at the Toronto International Film Festival. Lou …
, co-stars in the moving story of oppressed women in late 19th century France. Based on the novel by Victoria Mas, it blends real-life characters with fictional ones in the disturbing setting of a mental institution.
Charcot is not quite so celebrated by the patients, whether they’re being humiliated in public hypnosis demonstrations or tortured with ice baths in the name of “hydrotherapy.” But Eugénie’s way with the dead might just be her lifeline when she discovers that nurse Geneviève is grieving her sister, and longs to hear from her.
Laurent’s chief focus is on the daily life of the women in the build-up to the titular ball, when they are dressed up and paraded around for the fascination and lechery of the assembled men. These are women who are diagnosed with everything from epilepsy to “hysteria,” blamed by men and punished by women enacting men’s orders.
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