Australia's Best Movie Magazine

Film reviews

Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

search the site

Enter search term:

newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter

Enter search term:

Leaving (Film)

by Julian Shaw | July 19, 2010 12:14 | Edited July 19, 2010 12:15

Tension-filled thriller driven by complex, ambiguous characters and a gritty stylistic approach.

Director Catherine Corsini clearly has an obsession with female protagonists who take fate into their own hands...the Gods - and men - be damned. Such is the scenario in her unashamedly pulpy new feature Leaving, which has fortyish Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) risking everything for a red-hot affair. It would all be somewhat reminiscent of the recent stunner Mademoiselle Chambon (genders switched, of course), but for the fact that a flash-forward gunshot sends a blood-chilling reverberation through the film. This is not an affair that will end in tears...it will end in blood sport.

 

Corsini succeeds in creating a core group of characters who, if not always sympathetic, are all at least somewhat understandable. There is little sparkle in Suzanne's bourgeois marriage with Samuel (Yvan Attal, who wears the closest thing to a black hat here), and we can understand when she begins her rendezvous with Spanish builder, Ivan (Sergi Lopez). When Samuel finds out about his wife's extramarital dalliances, he sets the legal dogs on Ivan - who evidently has a chequered past.

 

Such a familiar (by French standards) storyline probably shouldn't impress as much as it does, but that gunshot early in the film works a treat, and there is plenty to like about Corsini's stylistic approach. The rough-around-the-edges sex scenes are rewarding in their uncontrived grit, and the documentary-like aesthetic also ensures that maximum tension is wrought from the premise. Sometimes Corsini's camera crew swarm around the actors like a hive of nervous bees, pulling us viscerally in to their dilemmas.

 

Kristin Scott Thomas hits on notes of naiveté, mania and ennui - all convincingly, but despite Attal's relative villainy, we don't always want to cheer for her. This ambiguity is at the heart of the film's success.