A woman haunted by a past love who returns to wreak havoc on her marriage is the subject for Claire Denis’ devastating romantic triangle tale.
A stunning, brilliant Juliette Binoche plays Sara, a current affairs live radio host, married to former rugby-star and ex-con Jean (superb Vincent Lindon). Jean is struggling to find a job and has a troubled relationship with his mixed-race son Marcus (Issa Perica) who lives with Jean’s mother (Bulle Ogier).
Right from the first scenes of Jean and Sara on vacation, romantically swimming in the ocean, one fears that trouble is on the horizon and it takes shape in Sara’s old boyfriend Francois (played by longtime Denis collaborator Gregoire Colin), who offers Jean a tempting job as a sports talent scout for his new agency. But Sara’s buried feelings for her ex plays havoc with all their lives. “Here we go again,” she thinks to herself, “Love, fear, sleepless nights, the phone on my bedside, getting wet.”
Claire Denis is an alchemist as well as a director. She can take any story and tell it in a fresh, innovative, lyrical way. And she has a gift with actors- all three leads are simply astonishing, which helps galvanize what could have been a simple tale into something deeper, darker and eventually more heartbreaking.
The film opens July 8 at ifccenter.