The basic plot of this film makes it sound like an 80s Hollywood thriller. A surgeon (Paul) nearing retirement age seemingly has it all – a job where he is respected, a loving wife and a fabulous home, but with a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction. When he meets a much younger woman – Lou – who seems interested in him, he may be on the verge of losing everything. Meanwhile, who is the person stalking him, and is there more to Lou than meets the eye…?
However, this being a contemporary French movie, it doesn’t star Michael Douglas and Anne Archer, but the peerless Daniel Auteil as Paul, and Kristin Scott-Thomas as his wife Lucie. On the surface it suffers from a problem commonly found in French films. The central characters lead privileged lives which makes it hard to sympathise with their relatively trivial issues. Paul has everything he worked for and Lucie is able to spend most of her time indulging in her passion for gardening. It is down to the skill of Auteil and Scott-Thomas that they are able to convey how the marriage has become stale, and to the great writing of Phillipe Claudel to make the well worn story fresh and interesting throughout.
Claudel’s layered screenplay will not often be bettered this year and his handling of a big family secret is brilliantly subtle. It will stay in your mind long after the end of the film. With interesting and subtle touches such as multiple references to the couple’s house and garden always being different, whilst their marriage routine remains the same. Similarities between xrays at Paul’s clinic and stained glass windows at a museum he visits with Lou; and Lou’s habit of commenting that Paul is leaving her, rather than leaving, when their meetings end.
Also directing the film, he only has one false note concerning a revelation about Lou towards the end of the film, when he also misses a better point to end the movie. As you would expect, the two leads are fantastic, and Anne Metzler who plays Paul’s colleague steals the scenes she appears in. A rich and nuanced film that deserves more then the very limited release it has received.
Rating 8.5 out of 10