A pioneering filmmaker for nearly 50 years, renowned for explorations of female sexuality, Catherine Breillat returns with a daring portrait of Anne (Léa Drucker), a family lawyer specialising in child protection and parental custody. She lives a very bourgeois life with her caring husband, businessman Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), and their two adopted daughters. When Théo (Samuel Kircher), Pierre’s estranged 17-year-old son from a previous marriage, comes to live with them, Anne feels inexplicably attracted. Loosely based on Danish drama Queen of Hearts, Breillat’s brilliant screenplay is methodically detailed, every shot a precise study of character.

Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard

Screening as part of the IFI French Film Festival, November 15 – 26.