Browning Cinema
Learning Beyond the Classics: Grand Dames
Directed by Andrzej Zuławski
With Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen
Rated R, 124 minutes, DCP
In English and French and German with English subtitles
Certainly one of the most harrowing divorce dramas ever made, Zuławski's one-of-a-kind genre pastiche has spy Sam Neill returning to his Berlin home from a mission abroad to discover that wife Isabelle Adjani wants suddenly to split up. Launching an investigation into the reasons for her ever-more-alarming behavior, he discovers a truth more sinister (and nauseating) than his wildest suspicions, as Zuławski's highly-choreographed cinematic delirium and Andrzej Korzyński's pulsating score push things light years past over-the-top.
Adjani won her first of five Césars as well as Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance, one of the most grueling ever caught on film, though later reflected that the palpable ordeal she put herself through on the movie was nearly enough to make her leave acting behind.
Free for ND, SMC, HC, IU-South Bend, Ivy Tech, and High School Students.
Co-presented by the David A. Heskin and Marilou Brill Endowment for Excellence and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
Event Dates
Thursday, February 12, 2026 - 6:30 PM
