Énorme (2019)

Claire Girard (Marina Foïs) is an internationally renowned pianist who regularly gives concerts around the world. Her husband, Frédéric “Fred” (Jonathan Cohen), is at once her manager, assistant, and jack-of-all-trades. Convinced he is acting in her best interests, he often speaks for her, makes decisions without consulting her, and reinforces her lack of self-confidence. The story shows how this control, initially exercised over her career, gradually extends into her private life. For example, he commits her, against her wishes, to performing Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with an orchestra on February 29 of the following year, although she has long refused to play the work, which she considers too complex. Claire and Fred have built a life without children, both convinced that their touring lifestyle is incompatible with parenthood. On their return from a concert in Japan, Fred witnesses an unexpected birth on a plane. The experience awakens in him a desire for fatherhood that quickly becomes all-consuming. Without telling Claire, he replaces her birth-control pills with sweeteners in order to cause a pregnancy. When Claire becomes pregnant, Fred deliberately puts off the appointment with the gynecologist until the legal time limit for a voluntary termination of pregnancy in France has passed. Claire, who had never wanted to become a mother, struggles with the pregnancy imposed on her. Fred, by contrast, throws himself entirely into his future fatherhood: he attends childbirth-preparation classes, dreams of breastfeeding the baby himself, and gains weight by mimicking some symptoms of pregnancy. The birth is expected on February 27, which would jeopardize the concert. The doctors nevertheless consider a premature birth possible. When Claire tries to induce labor at the hospital, she learns that she still has several weeks to go. Shortly after this examination, her belly suddenly grows spectacularly, without causing any medical complications. At a press event devoted to the Ravel concerto, a neighbor reveals to Claire that her pregnancy is no accident but the result of her husband’s manipulation. Realizing what he has done, she leaves Fred and moves in with Ayala, her former piano teacher. Away from him, she prepares for her concert alone and begins to take back control of her personal and professional choices. As the birth approaches, several couples-therapy sessions gradually bring Claire and Fred back together. Against Fred’s wishes, Claire ultimately chooses to have labor induced. She gives birth to a healthy boy, who is immediately taken into his father’s care. Claire performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major at the Philharmonie de Paris while Fred watches the concert broadcast on television and looks after their son. Fred seems to thrive in his role as a father, while Claire’s feelings about the situation are not made explicit.