The Hairdresser’s Husband is a gently hypnotic meditation on obsession, routine, and the aching beauty of a life lived entirely in reverie. Directed with poetic restraint by Patrice Leconte, the film unfolds like a memory — one bathed in sensual detail and imbued with melancholy.
The story centers on Antoine (Jean Rochefort), a quiet, eccentric man who, since childhood, has harbored a singular dream: to marry a hairdresser. The fantasy stems from a formative memory — the sensual image of a woman cutting his hair as Arabic music plays in the background. Decades later, that improbable wish comes true when he meets Mathilde (Anna Galiena), a serene, enigmatic hairdresser, and the two marry.
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They settle into a life defined by routine and stillness. Most of the film takes place inside Mathilde’s salon, where Antoine spends his days watching her work—drinking tea, reading, and simply basking in her presence. Their relationship, though sparse in dialogue, is steeped in tactile intimacy: the hum of clippers, the scent of shampoo, the soft shuffle of hair on the floor. Their love is not dramatic but embodied, expressed through glances, gestures, and the rhythm of domestic ritual.
Leconte transforms the banal into the sublime. The camera lingers on details—the sway of hips, the gleam of scissors, the arc of shaving cream—turning ordinary motions into quiet acts of worship. Michael Nyman’s delicate score underscores the film’s trance-like tone, deepening the emotional resonance without ever intruding.
But beneath the serenity lies a subtle undercurrent of foreboding. As Mathilde’s inner life becomes more opaque, Antoine’s idealized world begins to wobble. What begins as whimsical nostalgia gradually shades into quiet tragedy, suggesting the peril of trying to live inside a fantasy untouched by change or reality.
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Verdict:
The Hairdresser’s Husband is less a conventional narrative than a tone poem—wistful, erotic, and hauntingly still. It’s a film about longing, routine, and the fragile ecstasy of dreams made real. Jean Rochefort is quietly sublime, and Anna Galiena brings a mysterious warmth that lingers. Together, they inhabit a world where love is both sacred a
The Hairdresser’s Husband (1990)
