La Séparation

Deliberately paced and flawlessly acted, La Séparation is an up-close, unflinching look at the dissolution of a once loving relationship. Pierre (Daniel Auteuil), a children's book illustrator, and his wife Anne (Isabelle Huppert), have a comfortable home, warm friends, and a lovely 15-month old son, Lou Lou. But Pierre finds Anne increasingly preoccupied, and before long she confesses that she's met and fallen in love with another man, and she plans on pursuing the relationship. Huppert is mesmerizing as a woman torn between new love and old loyalties, and Auteuil bares his soul in a devastating performance as a man who knows that everything he has is slowly and inexorably slipping away. With attention to the subtlest emotive detail, writer-director Christian Vincent brings us an adult drama that is as good as they get. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (S. C. Sickles)