Today at Chicago International Film Festival: ‘Things to Come’

`Things to Come’ (France)

The Chicago International Film Festival continues through Oct. 27 at AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois.

Isabelle Huppert delivers one more nuanced performance — check her out in the fest’s “Elle” — redolent with inspired details. As if to say her feet are on the ground, even if her character trips when dealing with others, the footsteps of headstrong Nathalie (Huppert) are awkwardly loud. Married to a philosopher, she teaches this subject at a Paris high school. The daughter of philosophy profs, writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve knowledgeably namedrops others in the field. Although lines include “phantasmagorical infatuation” and “intellectually fulfilled,” this unpredictable portrait thankfully never defaults to the comeuppance of an overthinker. Inter-generational humor lightens the change-of-life storyline: Nathalie rebuffs students striking over retirement policy, young marketing types make over her plain textbook, and she makes a bad fit at the radical commune of a former student. 5 p.m. Oct. 16; 5:45 p.m. Oct. 19.