If You Don't, I Will

In Sophie Fillières' drama, a bottle of champagne that shatters when put in the freezer to quickly chill serves as a metaphor for a marriage coming unglued after years of stress. Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos play Pierre and Pomme, a middle-aged pair who have successfully negotiated her ordeal with a benign brain tumor but have become casually dismissive of one another's feelings, leading to a simmering tension that is only exacerbated by Pomme's suspicion that Pierre is having an affair with a younger woman. After they quarrel during a hike through a nearby forest, Pomme refuses to return home, instead deciding to temporarily live in the woods. Scenes of her sleeping outside on a log, interacting with rabbits and deer, and trying to fit in with a group of musicians during a night at a motel—while Pierre pretends to act nonchalant, even though friends (and their son) prod him to go out and search for her—provide dry Gallic humor. A sly, subtle portrait of a relationship that has lost its early passion but not degenerated into outright hostility, this engaging foreign film benefits from nuanced performances by Amalric and Devos who convey as much through gestures as they do in dialogue. Recommended. (F. Swietek)