Opening this week in North America is this acclaimed foreign language French-Swiss drama about infidelity and the ways it is understand differently by men and women.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiOnxv30iHk?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0&w=920&h=415]
Directed by Philippe Garrel, In the Shadow of Women (L’ombre des femmes) is a Black & White film exploring the relationship one man (Stanislas Merhar) has with two women, one his long-time companion (Clotilde Courau) and the other, a lover (Lena Paugam) he takes on the side.
Pierre (Mehar) is a documentary filmmaker working on a project about an elderly French Resistance veteran and Manon (Courau) is his professional and domestic partner, mostly happy but both barley getting by, living under stress from lack of steady income. He meets Elisabeth (Paugnam) at a film archive and they begin an affair that eventually bears weight on him he didn’t expect. The film looks to be powerful mix of realism about the tolls of a man who cannot commit.
Director:
Philippe Garrel
Writers:
Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay), Caroline Deruas-Garrel (screenplay) (as Caroline Deruas)
Stars:
Clotilde Courau, Stanislas Merhar, Lena Paugam