Brazilian-born Cristiana Reali, always stunning, stars this film that depicts pretty well life in a small quiet French town. She is "Abigaël Valérie Marie Jourdan", daughter of the town's major, wife of the chief of police, has a regular practice as a psychiatrist in a posh office, a nice home, even helps at the local charity. François Berléand plays "Pierre", his devoted husband who, even when sulking a bit at night, asks for forgivance later. Then you have the secondary characters, their daughter Guillemette, who is studying medicine as her mum, and her sister Catherine Debroise, also working in Medicine, with some issues of her own that resonate on Marie's past (she's got a dependent personality, always justifying his violent partner, "Marco"). We see only one patient, beautiful "Adeline", and Valérie is duly concerned about her. And then we have the delightful grandma "Denise", all the family together at the town council when they uncover the statue of Valérie's father, the late major of the town. How lovely! But, as anybody that has seen any Chabrol movies, we know how to "look beneath the surface of bourgeoise respectability", to so speak :).
The only ones that "knows" Marie is her secretary, Julie, who of course uses that to her advantage with "Fred". Even "Hélène" (Carole Franck) the reliable police woman who works with the chief is at a loss, same as all the police, the regulars at the chapel, her own family and entourage, etc. This may be the only weak point, but overall the film is highly enjoyable. The plot is tight in the sense that there's nothing there that just shouldn't be.
Just one quibble: Marie's "conscience", although similar to her, also in her beauty, doesn't really look like a "young Marie" (she doesn't have fair eyes, her face is more square, etc.).
Music is quite interesting, gripping and also nice to listen to.
Enjoy it !
PS: Do not confuse this film with another one of the same name (...) from the year before http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1661388/.
