Stolen Life

I haven't read the novel by Steinunn Sigurdardottir, but the film version that transports the story from Iceland to the rocky isle of Ouessant off the coast of Brittany has many moments of beauty amid the slow unfolding of the plot. Emmanuelle Beart and Sandrine Bonnaire represent two opposites: Alda is impulsive, a sexual tease, unsatisfied with her surroundings; while Olga is steady, motherly, devoted to her family (which includes the dead members, who are constantly referred to). It's hard not to see the skull beneath the skin when you live next to a cemetery.

Bonnaire has a wonderful scene at Christmas time where she watches her sister and daughter dancing to a sensual song and must accept that her life is coming to a close. She is so much the anchor and compass of this movie. Vahina Giocante is wonderful as the daughter, who has to steer a course between the extremes of the two older women. Emmanuel Beart does a fair job as the pixie Alda, but has been better for Sautet (Un coeur en hiver). This isn't Yves Angelo's best picture--that would be Colonel Chabert--but he gets the emotional tone right.