First, let me celebrate the 60 years in the business that Jean-Claude Carriere will soon mark. He'll turn 90 next year, and this old collaborator with Luis Bunuel, Louis Malle and so many other great directors is still writing lovely scripts.
Second, this is an impressive film from Louis Garrel, who manages to pull off the always challenging feat of directing and playing the male lead. I thought only men like Orson Welles could do that. Garrel plays Abel as somewhat hangdog: imagine what it would be like to hear from your live-in girlfriend that she's pregnant and she's through with you because she's been having an affair with your best friend--ouch!--then, years later, her son confides in you that he thinks his mom killed his dad. Superb acting here from Garrel and the wonderful kid Joseph Engel.
Finally, Laetitia Casta and Lily-Rose Depp are both very good. Casta's part is the more challenging, she's got to be like Maria Casares in Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, and she brings it off.
Review of A Faithful Man
