Border Line (1992)
Directed by Danièle Dubroux

Film Review

Director Danièle Dubroux's fascination with psychoanalysis led her to direct two interesting and highly idiosyncratic films dealing with mental derangement - Border Line and Le Journal du séducteur (1996). Both are unsettling works whose distinctive style reflects the increasingly unhinged state of mind of the central protagonist, but in contrast to the more fanciful, almost surreal second film Border Line is frighteningly realistic in its portrayal of a woman's gradual descent into insanity.

Dubroux not only directed the film - her second solo piece after La Petite Allumeuse (1987) - she also took the central role, ably supported by David Léotard (playing her younger lover whom she becomes convinced is her son) and André Dussollier (at his best as the husband who fears his wife is losing her mind). True-to-life performances and some imaginative direction make this one of Dubroux's better films. Indeed, there are few films that deal as convincingly with the theme of mental disintegration. Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965) and Le Locataire (1976) tackle the same subject admirably but end up drowning in a maelstrom of hysteria. By contrast, Dubroux's film is more nuanced and possibly more disturbing, showing that madness is not an unambiguous, objectively defined condition but merely a term we arbitrarily assign to a set of behaviours that frighten us.

Film Synopsis

Hélène, a middle-aged woman who has been married for over 20 years, decides to visit her former lover.  She learns that he has recently died and that his son, Julien, is living in his apartment.  Despite the difference in their ages, Hélène and Julien are strongly attracted to one another and begin an intense love affair.  However, as their relationship develops, Hélène becomes increasingly convinced that Julien is her own son.  As she tries to obtain the evidence she needs to prove the genetic link, those around her, including her husand Alexandre, suspect that Hélène is starting to lose her mind...