Brownian Movement

A married doctor leads a secret life in this Belgian psychodrama from writer-director Nanouk Leopold that is divided into three chapters. In the first, Charlotte (Sandra Hüller) begins her second career by leasing an apartment, where she sleeps with various men. Unlike Catherine Deneuve's call girl in Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour, Charlotte is not a bored or neglected housewife, so it's harder to understand her motivations. Leopold keeps the dialogue to a minimum as Charlotte goes from treating patients, to assignations with strangers, and then home to her husband, Max (Dragan Bakema), and their young son. The lack of a music score during the apartment scenes further de-romanticizes her sexually explicit encounters with men who cover the anatomical spectrum, from a heavyset gentleman to a slow-moving senior citizen. Charlotte doesn't appear to judge, making her more like a sexual surrogate than a prostitute (and no money changes hands). Her illicit activities come to an end after she runs into a former patient and winds up in couples therapy with her perplexed husband. A third chapter picks up the story after the pair have overhauled their lives—including a change in scenery—but Max's discomfort with Charlotte remains, since she never clearly articulated the reasons for her unusual behavior. A mysterious, atmospheric, and ultimately enigmatic character study with a strong central performance by Hüller, this is recommended for more adventurous collections. (K. Fennessy)