Potiche (15)

2011 (France)(Comedy)
(French with English subtitles)
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu and Fabrice Luchini
Director: François Ozon

Set in 1977 in a provincial French town, Potiche is a free adaptation of the 1970s eponymous hit comic play. Catherine Deneuve is Suzanne Pujol, a submissive, housebound ‘trophy housewife’ (or “potiche,”) who steps in to manage the umbrella factory run by her wealthy and tyrannical husband after the workers go on strike and take him hostage. To everyone’s surprise, Suzanne proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. But when her husband returns from a restful cruise in top form, things get complicated. (1hr 43m)