Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is a hard working 25-year-old Parisian married to an
unemployed couch potato. An older and more sophisticated gentleman, Mr. Arnaud
(Michel Serrault), hearing of her financial troubles through a mutual friend
(i.e. ex-girlfriend) and offers to pay her back rent, no strings attached.
Dubious and possibly embarrassed about the offer, Nelly declines, but tells her
husband that she has accepted a check from the older man. He doesn't seem to
mind the arrangement and so Nelly, infuriated, decides to divorce him. She
also decides to accept the check from Mr. Arnaud as well as the proffered job
of typing up his memoirs. Their relationship grows as she makes comments and
suggests alterations in the manuscript, until Mr. Arnaud begins to contemplate
seducing her. Arnaud's youthful publisher, Vincent (Jean-Hughes Anglade) also
meets Nelly and becomes enamoured of her. Their frequent conversations and
eventual evening dining together disturb Arnaud enough to make him suffer
feelings of jealousy and disappointment. Both Nelly and Mr. Arnaud harbor
repressed feelings of love, hurt, and anger that originate from different
sources and project themselves in different ways; the characters surrounding
their lives often seem like catalysts to their central relationship within the
confines of the film. What destinies await them and what effect will they
finally have upon one another? Despite their age difference, each seems to be
on the brink of a new horizon.
Director Claude Sautet, who also gave us the magnificent prize winning Les
Choses de la Vie, once again shows us his capacity for sensitively telling a
tale of human emotions. Admirably assisted by the performances of his three
leading actors, he has managed to produce yet another film that touches upon
human complexities without explaining away the mystical qualities that can
exist between people. Emmanuelle Beart, winner of a Cesar for her role in
Manon des Sources, shows that her talents have continued growing during the
past decade. Michel Serrault is, as always, wonderful to watch and adds his
unique comic touch to this dramatic role. Jean-Hughes Anglade, who first took
audiences by surprise in L'homme Blesse, has matured into a fine actor,
achieving one success after the other in the past few years. With a trio like this,
one need only sit back and enjoy.
© 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett
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