French connection: Salpêtrière Hospital & THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

France is the scene of an infamous tragic event, a car crash at the 13th pillar of the Pont de l’Alma tunnel and a legendary beleaguered Princess then rushed to Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris around this time of year. Coincidentally, in Mélanie Laurent’s debut film, a certain ill-fated Eugénie will go to drastic measures to escape the infamous Salpêtrière Hospital after being forcibly institutionalized by her father. Based on best-selling French author Victoria Mas’ novel Le Bal des Folles (The Mad Women’s Ball), THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL will be released on Sept. 17, and has its own message for all women who find themselves at the mercy of the patriarchy. 

Having not been able to make any choices freely in her own life, Eugénie’s incarceration brings its own unusual liberation while at the same time the storyline reveals the soul-crushing injustice of being declared “mad” or “mentally unstable” as a form of financial and social control for families with unruly or disobedient female relatives. This brutal manipulation still applies today, from ordinary poupée to Pop-star (#FreeBritney) to Princess.

But in the cruelty of the times during the 19th century, treatment of mentally challenged women went far beyond mere involuntary commitments. In this film adaptation of Mas’ historic fiction, Laurent crafts a visual human zoo of locked-up ladies for curious members of the upper class to mingle with and humiliate during an annual ‘bal masqué’ in French, a gothic masquerade ball.

For all the wronged woman, Laurent wrote and directed this anthem

This first directorial outing for Laurent will have a world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 12 in Toronto, followed by a Sept. 17 release on Amazon Prime Video.

THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL is written, directed by, and stars Mélanie Laurent (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS). Her film is sourced from the novel “Le bal des folles”  (Albin Michel, 2019).

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