Dry Cleaning

Sexual tension seeps from every frame of film in this French import about a fortysomething husband and wife who, seeking to revitalize their humdrum lives, develop a bizarre live-in relationship with an ambiguously bisexual performance artist, upsetting the balance of their marriage and begetting melancholy, discontent, restrained jealousy, rage and--eventually--tragedy. While director Anne Fontaine follows every nuance of the toll this takes on the couple (Miou-Miou and Charles Berling), the film often feels aimless and even pointless, in part because the interloper's motives for trifling with the confused marrieds' emotions are never very clear despite his pivotal role in the story. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)