Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Nathalie Baye | ... | Anne / Wife | |
Benoît Magimel | ... | François / Gerard's son | |
Suzanne Flon | ... | Aunt Line | |
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Bernard Le Coq | ... | Gérard / Husband |
Mélanie Doutey | ... | Michèle / Anne's daughter | |
Thomas Chabrol | ... | Matthieu Lartigue | |
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Henri Attal | ... | Fanny's Father-in-law |
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Kevin Ahyi | ... | First Kid |
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Françoise Bertin | ... | Thérèse |
Jérôme Bertin | ... | Volunteer | |
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Caroline Baehr | ... | Fanny |
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Didier Bénureau | ... | Brissot |
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Yvon Crenn | ... | Yves Pouët |
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Michèle Dascain | ... | Marthe |
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Jean-Marc Druet | ... | Lab Assistant |
Anne runs for re-election to the town council, shepherded by Matthieu, her fellow candidate and campaign manager. Her husband, Gérard, a businessman and philanderer, hates the campaign and feels vindication when a nasty leaflet circulates about their family history. His son, François, just back from the U.S., is in love with his step-sister Michèle, and she with him, although something is amiss besides their being cousins. Watching it all is their elderly Aunt Line, who has her own haunting memories. A death in World War II and a death on election night collapse time in the perpetual present and bring unexpected expiation. There's a lot to celebrate. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Director Chabrol takes on the French bourgeois so insidiously, so quietly, so subtly, that you don't realize his cinematic scalpel has just removed several layers of sensitive skin; this family-based thriller shows a woman running for office, examines her philandering husband, and zeroes in on two slightly incestuous slightly related children, all under the care of a quietly smiling, deadly caretaker, who smiles while encouraging the tots to misbehave.
The plot, such as it is, could be frustrating if the viewer is looking for any kind of forward action--this is an expose of empty morality, and hardly qualifies as a suspense film (you might even ask--when will this end?), but in considering the gorgeously cinematic interiors (and beach setting) in contrast to the vapid emptiness each character ultimately reveals, this could be a film you like very much; it's typically French in that it tends to look inside rather than outside, examine character development in lieu of action perpetrated by a hero.