09/09/2026 - VENICE 2026: Robert Guédiguian dishes up another slice of blissful humanist cinema, once again starring his trusty regular acting ensemble

Selected twice for Berlin, seven times for Cannes and now fourfold for Venice, a French film phenomenon named Robert Guédiguian yet again, and further, establishes his stance as a genuine quality brand and old festival friend, each time providing two hours of often blissful humanist cinema from his corner of the world, Marseille. The exact nature of the story varies, but a treat is usually imminent, normally with a smile and some food for thought to go with it. A Woman Today, selected for the Giornate degli Autori section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, does not differ on any account.

More good friends are found on the screen as the trusty RG acting ensemble once again gathers: Ariane Ascaride, Gérard Meylan, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet are all here, backing up a relative RG rookie (she has “only” appeared in Stealing Angel), Marilou Aussilloux, playing the contemporary female of the title. Juliette is flawlessly pretty, enjoys a successful career in high finance and has a great bachelorette pad with a swimming pool where she regularly skinny-dips. At times, she lets off steam with some pretty Tinder boy, she travels to Tokyo and other great places, and she drives a cool electric scooter. Her mum (Ascaride) scolds her for being too busy to come around for dinner and for not giving her grandchildren; her dad (Meylan) is more lenient – after all, she's quite a favourite of his. There are two older brothers and a sweet uncle in her family, which has a past in colonial Algeria, and a protective next-door neighbour (Darroussin), who lives with his mother and may have spotted her skinny-dipping. Overall, she's got a pretty carefree life, our young woman of today. Shouldn't there be some kind of crisis awaiting, one wonders, rupturing Juliette's smooth reality? But no – there's actually two of them.

The first one happens at an office party, involving a male colleague and a sexual assault with severe repercussions – Juliette crashing her car being one of them. The other incident involves a family secret, the exact nature of which won't be divulged here, but it's a little bit sad and quite beautiful. The first incident also has a silver lining to it, as Juliette's car almost collides with a home for young, unwed mothers, a cause she volunteers to join up with (she sure can handle their accounts). Here, she meets other women of today, from very different realities. She also meets Christian (Leprince-Ringuet), one of the organisers, who is very different from her Tinder boys. Like Juliette when we first meet her, it may all look a bit too perfect and silky-smooth in print, but when these characters and their fates come alive on the screen, it just works – all thanks to our film phenomenon friend from Marseille.

If Guédiguian were a chef (perhaps he is; even a good one?), he wouldn’t just be one who would be able to serve a great meal, but would equally be a joy to behold while creating his dishes. Just watching him work on an onion, layer after layer after layer, would surely be a sight to behold.

A Woman Today was produced by France’s Agat Films, with co-production by Bibi Film and ARTE France Cinéma.