Medea Miracle

A personal, contemporary film meditation about the mythical figure of Medea. The charismatic Isabelle Huppert in the leading role plays the immigrant Irène who lives with her children in a Paris suburb and works as a singer in a nightclub.

Médée miracle is a reworking of the Greek myth Medea. Irène (Isabelle Huppert) is a stranger; she left her country because of her ‘crazy’ love of Jason. Now she lives in a Parisian banlieu with him and their two children. They have become owners of a nightclub where she also sings to entertain the visitors. When Jason abandons her, Irene is left behind with her daughters and Martha, a mute girl she brought with her from home. Irène gradually nears madness, but, unlike the Greek heroine, refuses to act violently towards others. A radical change occurs when Irene encounters Marcela, a Rumanian girl who is being exploited.

Tonino De Bernardi has been wanting to do this project with Huppert for quite some years, and her presence is one of the key notes in this cinematographic adventure, in which improvisation and a feeling for space are juxtaposed with the echoes of the myth.

De Bernardi: ‘It was Isabelle Huppert who inspired me for this film. It’s Medea’s story, that leaves from Euripides’ tragedy and goes on through Seneca, Grillparzer, Anouilh, Pasolini, Heiner Müller, Christa Wolf till now. My film asks the question: who would Medea be today? Finally I must say that the film also somehow contains my mother’s story. The film is for me a kind of ’passion’, but also a miracle film, that was born from love and solidarity among friends.’ –Rotterdam