Je l'aimais

A film about an illicit affair: how many hundreds of them can there be? Zabou Breitman has made one that engages the viewer's sympathy throughout. The bourgeois family that seeks to avoid conflicts in order to preserve appearances, then finds the facade is crumbling is well described. It's so important to Pierre and Suzanne that they keep their houses and cars, that the merchants they deal with don't suspect anything is amiss.

Daniel Auteuil is really effective as the unhappy lover; he made me think of Jean Desailly in Truffaut's great La peau douce as he tries to keep wife and mistress both happy. Those sad eyes will give him away. Marie-Josee Croze is moving into deeper, more intense roles and she is very moving as she tries to work out her allegiances. Florence Loiret Caille as the abandoned daughter-in-law seems out of her range.