Despite some initial difficulties, Alice and Martin are drawn to each other through a shared sense of each other's painful past. Seeing these secretive characters slowly open themselves up is one of the joys of André Téchiné's suspenseful psychodrama, although watching the same pair struggle to sustain their relationship can be too much. Téchiné's intense feature commands attention from the outset, tightening its grip as Alice and Martin's histories are gradually unravelled and their future together slowly determined.

The director is reunited with his Rendez-vous star Juliette Binoche for this brilliantly structured character study. Demonstrating her ability to make a film stand still with the smallest of gestures, Binoche illuminates the picture and gives a riveting performance. The scene in which she relates the death of her sister remains one of her finest cinematic moments to date.

DID YOU KNOW?
	Co-star Mathieu Amalric is also a director, with three feature films to his name.    Téchiné directed a film about the Brontë sisters in the late 1970s. Binoche played Cathy in a 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.

There's scarcely a false note struck in the supporting performances with Mathieu Amalric and newcomer Alexis Loret both veering between emotional extremes. Amalric's portrayal of the desperate Benjamin, trapped in a cycle of empty, promiscuous sexual encounters, is particularly affecting. Boldly delving into the way his characters go from judging one another to putting themselves on trial, Téchiné directs with sensitivity, crafting a dark, intimately handled melodrama.