It probably doesn't matter much to give it away, but I won't: all we need to know is that something has corroded, if not quite destroyed, the heart and soul of Juliette Fontaine (Scott Thomas).
When we meet her, she is being picked up by her younger sister Lea (Zylberstein) with whom she is coming to live after a long absence. Her expressionlessness is eloquently expressive: her grey complexion unflattered by makeup, she chain-smokes and hugs herself, as if seeking to contain an unspeakable grief, or perhaps a profound rage.
For all that keeping us on edge in the first half-hour, the film is not a guessing game: the debut as director of a respected novelist, it seeks to reveal and then anatomise the complicated family dynamics that have led to this point and that prevent a resolution.
And the precision with which it evokes Juliette's inner life makes it a supremely novelistic film. Slowly we begin to realise that Juliette's 15-year-old secret has cemented in place an ancient family dysfunction.
Ironically, Juliette is much closer to facing up to the past than Lea, her husband Luc (Hazanavicius) or the people she meets as she attempts to pick up the threads of her old life. Only one adult character is prepared to meet her face-on, and only with her young nieces does she find something close to unconditional affection (an old kids' song that she sings with them is deliciously rich in ambiguity).
Scott Thomas' performance, easily the best of her career, is mesmerisingly good because it is almost frighteningly contained. She never seeks our sympathy - indeed, she seems to be taking any opportunity to alienate it - thus keeping constantly alive two possible explanations for who she is: a damaged soul in need of nurture or a figure from a horror film.
The English-born actress has spent much of her adult life in France - some two dozen of her credits are in French films - and the film is clever enough to explain her slightly accented French. For people who have only known her as an icy and aloof beauty, this film will be a revelation.
Peter Calder
Cast:
Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius
Director:
Philippe Claudel
Running time:
115 mins
Rating:
M In French with English subtitles
