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Corsini's movie, which has been released in France, will appeal to similar audiences, though whether with similar success remains to be seen.
Middle-class she may be, but Suzanne is played by Kristin Scott Thomas, which brings the character well into Lady Chatterley territory. Husband Samuel (Yvan Attal) is boorish but well connected. When Suzanne tells him she's fallen for, and slept with, the Spanish laborer Ivan (Sergi Lopez), employed illegally, he opts -- unlike D.H. Lawrence's aristocrat -- to play hardball. He pulls every string he can to make life impossible for his estranged wife and her lover.
To work well, the formula requires that the audience be won over, if not to sympathy with the adulterous lovers at least to belief in the reality of their passion. It's by no means clear that Corsini has achieved this.
Scott Thomas is an accomplished actress who can convey passion as well as she can do light comedy. But she never quite convinces as a woman prepared to endure every humiliation to pursue her dream of a new life. In a role that feels underdeveloped, Lopez is two-dimensional. Attal, by contrast, fairly blazes off the screen. When Samuel tells Suzanne, "You're my wife, you owe me an explanation," you're inclined to say, well, yes, actually, he's right. His jibe "Playing the bourgeoise and the prole -- is that what turns you on?" also hits near the mark.
Corsini ups the stakes and sets the tone by announcing the film's tragic outcome in a short prologue, relating the story as an extended flashback. Georges Delerue's soundtrack music is a nod in the direction of Francois Truffaut, another chronicler of willful female passion.
The direction is proficient, the production is flawless, the landscapes are never less than sun-drenched, and the comparisons with illustrious predecessors are not wholly misplaced. But where, the more demanding filmgoer will ask, is the added value, the spark of inspiration that makes for a must-see movie rather than a worthy night out? |
