Film Forum

Shades of Patricia Highsmith and Claude Chabrol infuse this revenge thriller, set on the picturesque French/Swiss border, starring two of France’s most celebrated actresses. Diane (Emmanuelle Devos, READ MY LIPS) is obsessed with finding the owner of the mocha-colored Mercedes she believes killed her son in a hit-and-run. Tracking the car to Évian, on the shores of Lake Geneva, she meets beautician Marlene (Nathalie Baye, TELL NO ONE), who has put the car up for sale. Diane poses as a prospective buyer. Surprises await them both. Director Mermoud, who helmed episodes of the cult French series The Returned, brings a slow-burning tension to this “classy and classical psychological thriller” (Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter). Based on the bestselling novel by Tatiana de Rosnay, author of “Sarah’s Key.”

N.B. – In conjunction with the opening of MOKA, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) will present the CinéSalon series Enigmatic Emmanuelle Devos, with screenings of the actress’s films every Tuesday in June & July. The series includes Arnaud Desplechin’s MY SEX LIFE…OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT, and KINGS AND QUEEN (2003), among others. Full details.

FRANCE / SWITZERLAND • 2016 • 89 MINS. • IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES  
FILM MOVEMENT

Reviews

“Critic’s Pick. First-rate. Two of French cinema’s finest actors, Ms. Devos and Ms. Baye, both of whom do career-high work here.”
– Glenn Kenny, The New York Times

“This cool, precise psychological thriller… is a neat package, pleasingly spare in its dialogue. Devos...remains the most dangerous woman in French cinema: someone who projects a sensuousness that is still startling in middle age… combined with a visible intelligence so smoldering that it could get her charged with arson. American pictures have no equivalent.” – Stuart Klawans, The Nation

“Diane’s is a quiet, lucid derangement, vivified by Devos’s arsenal of infinitesimal gestures and physical responses; few performers share her skill at inhabiting long stretches of silence so absorbingly… (Scenes with) Nathalie Baye (who) began her career more than forty years ago in films by Truffaut, Godard, and Maurice Pialat evince a fascinatingly protean chemistry, a slightly flirtatious vibe.”
– Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

“A captivating and seductive thriller… at times reminiscent of the work of Hitchcock and Polanski.”
– Cineuropa

“A mournful, slow-burning psychological thriller. Should appeal to an audience seeking moral complexity in their thrillers. There is evident intelligence in Mermoud’s direction...there is also a striking use of color throughout… and good use made of contrast between the lead actresses. Fascinating in the way it explores the inner lives of these two women.”
– Allan Hunter, Screen Daily

“Following a terrifically tight, wordless opening sequence… the reliably interesting Emmanuelle Devos brings complexity to this sleek, Chabrol-like story of a mother’s revenge mission. The film largely forges its more Hitchcockian properties for febrile, intuitive character study, beautifully served by Devos’ witty, coolly disciplined performance. An elegantly lean, low-temperature thriller.”
– Guy Lodge, Variety

“A classy and classical psychological thriller. A woman in mourning can be more dangerous and more persistent than a wounded animal and Mermoud and Devos beautifully uncover the dark side of Diane’s character… Reminiscent of the works of Chabrol, Hitchcock and Highsmith, the film doesn’t reinvent the genre but knows how to use its codes to its advantage.”
– Boyd Van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter