Leaving

"Partir," shown in the U.S. as "Leaving" (2009) was co-written and directed by Catherine Corsini.

Kristin Scott Thomas plays Suzanne, a French wife and mother who is bored with her "perfect" life. She is rich, beautiful, and seemingly happily married.

However, she decides to do something more than just be idle, so she returns to her earlier profession of physical therapy. Her husband is paying for an office for his wife, which will be adjacent to their home. Although wealthy, he squeezes every Euro out of the building contractor. That causes the contractor to hire a Spanish worker, who will work for non-union wages. Suzanne falls passionately in love with the worker--Ivan--and what happens next makes up the plot of the movie.

As someone pointed out on the message board, no one behaves intelligently. When she is desperate for money, Suzanne--despite her education and her elegance and beauty--ends up doing manual labor at the lowest level. (Literally--she's picking vegetables.) Didn't she consider working in a dress shop or as a receptionist if she couldn't find a PT position?

Kristin Scott Thomas is English, but she lives in France. She's very convincing as a woman who arrived in France when she was very young, and now is completely French. The movie manages to work because Scott Thomas has so much star power and such a strong screen presence. However, beauty and elegance can only take a movie so far. If you analyze the film carefully, the whole thing falls apart.

I saw the movie on DVD, and that worked well for the interpersonal aspects. However, there were several scenes of great natural beauty, which were lost on the small screen. I don't think that Partir is a movie worth seeking out, except if you are dazzled by Kristin Scott Thomas, who is in virtually every scene. However, I think it's somewhat better than the very low IMDb rating would suggest.

Kristen Scott Thomas is excellent in 'Leaving', a traumatic but excellent film about the break up of a relationship. Much is acutely observed here: the casually indifferent husband who becomes a monster when crossed; the affair, depicted without moral judgement, that attains unexpected emotional significance because of the previously hidden fault-lines it exposes; the sex scenes, unusually effective, in which much is conveyed through the pattern of breath. Plus there's a luscious (but sensitive) soundtrack, and Scott Thomas's brilliant performance as a woman gradually losing her grip on first happiness, and then sanity. The ending is subtly different to the one first suggested: that it is a happier one is unclear in a dark tale.

Director Catherine Corsini doesn't pull any punch depicting a love triangle of sort in Partir. Suzanne is a typical bourgeois wife of Samuel, a well-connected doctor. Children, big house, steady comfort, Suzanne has everything she could want, except passion. One day, she meets Ivan who make ends-meet working odd jobs and something clicks.

This very simple, very classic story is made worthwhile for several reasons. The main one being Kristin Scott Thomas delivering yet again a masterful performance. The role is tailor- made for this actress who knows how to subtly let us share the confused state of mind her character is in. Sergi Lopez and Yvan Attal are also good, although their roles are understandably much less challenging.

Where the screenplay shines is by not spoon-feeding us with justifications or condemnations for the characters. Suzanne's husband does seem somewhat boring, but he's not some evil one-dimensional character. And her new romantic interest Yvan is not an adventurous "alpha male". In fact, although Yvan does represent the freedom Suzanne never had thanks to his bohemian lifestyle, he seems like a somewhat vulnerable man and not terribly versed in "romancing" a woman. She seems more like the one pursuing him to enter this relationship.

Speaking of relationships, this is also where the movie shines. We're never entirely sure if what Suzanne is experiencing is true love, or rather if she's just looking for a way out from her husband and lifestyle. The director doesn't hold anything back, showing the vulnerability of each of the three character, how selfish they can be, discarding their responsibilities, lying and justifying reprehensible acts against each others.

This film is fascinating because, in the true tradition of French cinema, it goes for realism. You've seen some of these things happen around you, you may have lived through them. Watch this movie with a few people and you're likely to find people split. Some might sympathize with Suzanne, others with her husband, others with her lover. Yet others might sympathize with all three or none of them.

In short, Catherine Corsini is not trying to tell you what you should think and lets you make your own impressions throughout the events depicted. There is joy and pain in relationships because relationships, like us, aren't perfect. This is one such story, showcasing the imperfections.

My rating would be higher had we been provided with more context. We barely get a glimpse of Suzanne before she meets Yvan. As well, the conclusion did seem sudden and over-the- top to me. Lastly, I feel the husband and children could have used a few more minutes of screen time.

I enjoyed several aspects to the film, Partir. The opening scene catches the audience's attention by showing two of the main characters and an unexplained gunshot. The entire film keeps you intrigued and on your toes wondering what will happen next all leading up to that mysterious gunshot from the beginning. The director, Catherine Corsini , was born and 1956 and is a French director and screenwriter. She has directed 15 films since 1982, her latest being Partir, and her most famous La repetition was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. One idea found in the film is the determination to find true love and happiness. Suzanne is unhappy with her husband and children and she falls for a man, Ivan, which she eventually will do anything for. Another important idea in the film is marital problems. Suzanne falls in love with another man, confesses her affair but finds out she can no longer love her husband regardless of the money and housing her husband had provided her. An aspect of the film I noticed was that there was barely any music. The silence between scenes and conversations created more suspense and wonderment. For example, the scene when Suzanne tells her husband about the affair is completely silent throughout the conversation, which causes to you really engage in the scene. A second aspect to the film I enjoyed was the symbolism of the two houses Suzanne is torn between. There is her husband's house that is large, spacious, and dark, whereas Ivan's home is small, but is bright and welcoming. I recommend this film if you enjoy drama, suspense, and unexpected twists.

She cheats, she lies, she leaves her family. You'd have every right to hate Suzanne, yet you don't. The one you hate is her self-righteous husband. It's nothing short of a miracle how Kristin Scott-Thomas and Yvan Attal pull it off. Admittedly, the script makes sure her betrayal brings out the worst in him, but I doubt you would take her side so easily if you read about it in a novel. It rings so true because writer-director Catherine Corsini works with a fine script and a first-rate cast. The way Sam cuts Suzanne off from the family fortune may be stretching the facts of civil law a tad, but it goes to show that there's no equality without economic independence. Despite its strong social message, the movie keeps you on the edge of your seat like a thriller. Take your family.