EXCLUSIVE: PATRICIA MAZUY
TMN EXCLUSIVE - D’A FILM FESTIVAL
Patricia Mazuy on La Prisonnière de Bordeaux at D'A 2025 Film Festival
French Director Patricia Mazuy. Photo courtesy D'A Festival.
At the D'A Film Festival 2025 in Barcelona, La Prisonnière de Bordeaux (Visiting Hours) captivated the audience with its raw, powerful exploration of resilience, suffering, and the quest for freedom. Directed by Patricia Mazuy, the film sparked deep emotional reactions, drawing viewers into its transformative journey. TMN spoke exclusively with Mazuy about the themes that fuel this compelling story, offering insight into the strength and human spirit that make the film unforgettable.
The D'A Film Festival, held in Barcelona from March 27 to April 6, 2025, is a celebration of bold, visionary storytelling in auteur cinema. Every year, it brings audiences closer to films that challenge conventions, ignite emotions, and redefine narratives. Among this year’s standout selections is La Prisonnière de Bordeaux (Visiting Hours), a deeply evocative drama directed by the acclaimed French filmmaker Patricia Mazuy. With a career marked by powerful storytelling in films like Saint-Cyr (2000) and Sport de filles (2011), Mazuy once again crafts a film that delves into power, resilience, and the fragile yet transformative nature of human relationships.
La Prisonnière de Bordeaux (Visiting Hours) tells the story of two women—Alma, living alone in her large town house, and Mina, a single mother from a housing project in another city. Both women’s lives revolve around the prison visits they make to their respective partners. Their paths cross in a room outside the visiting area, and an unlikely friendship begins to form between them. The film beautifully explores the unexpected bonds that emerge from shared experiences of struggle and hope.
Following the screening, TMN had the privilege of speaking with Mazuy about the film’s themes and the emotional depths it explores. I asked her about the way La Prisonnière de Bordeaux portrays human suffering and survival, the complex strength of its female leads, and what freedom truly means in the context of the story. Here’s our exclusive conversation:
This film portrays a way of living, loving, and caring—regardless of social class or who you are. Everyone makes mistakes and experiences pain. How do you think the film explores how people experience pain?
I don’t know if you’d call it pain...
Suffering?
Yes, suffering. Actually, the film explores how the different women resist being stuck in the role of victims. In the end, Mina’s character, the one with no money, is the strongest because she acts as a catalyst for the wealthy woman, helping her gain clarity about her own life.
The two main characters seem to be strong women. Focusing on Isabelle Huppert’s character, do you think she believes in the kindness of strangers, as Tennessee Williams once said?
I don’t know the connection with Tennessee Williams, but...
Ah, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois says, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Almodóvar also referenced this in All About My Mother...
Ah, yes, sure. I saw it a long time ago.
Haha, yeah, I’m a bit of a geek. But would you say she trusts in kindness?
Yes, of course. But mainly because, in this case, I was working with Isabelle Huppert. And, at least in French cinema, she often plays very tough characters. But here, I wanted her to play someone who is genuinely good, someone who believes in kindness. That’s it.
Film frame from La Prisonnière de Bordeaux: Alma (Isabelle Huppert), a bourgeois woman, and Mina (Hafsia Herzi), a laundress from the outskirts, meet in a prison visiting room. Their encounter sparks a revealing and liberating friendship. Courtesy D'A Film Festival.
At the end, Isabelle Huppert’s character is left with art and with herself. Is that a victory or simply the only possible path?
I think it’s a victory because she frees herself. She leaves with art. But more importantly, she leaves with money. She steals from her husband. She takes all his paintings. And in doing so, she ends up with a lot of money.
She also says that it’s easier to be free when you’re rich than when you’re poor... But, well, that’s not exactly a revelation.
Would you say the ending is hopeful?
Are you talking about Isabelle’s character or the film?
Both.
Well, regarding Isabelle’s character, I think that at least now... She’s no longer like a living dead. She’s going to live. Maybe it won’t be great, but she’ll live.
And the film conveys that too. In the sense that, at least, because she has lived... Her love story was really bleak. Horrible. But now, at least, she’s free from that.
As for Mina, she’s still in the same mess, but she’s lived an extraordinary adventure and is ready to live another one.
Thank you. Thank you very much for your time.
Muchas gracias.
Muchas gracias.
Thank you.
Note: A big thanks to the interpreter who made this conversation possible.
Trailer for La Prisonnière de Bordeaux, directed by Patricia Mazuy. France, 2024.
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