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La Separation

 

  Written and Directed by Christian Vincent

France 1996 / Drama / Marriage / Psychological / 84 min / Color / Dolby 2.0 / 1.85:1  Widescreen Anamorphic / PAL /  In French with Optional English Subtitles

Isabelle Huppert, Daniel Auteuil , Jerome Deschamps, Karin Viard, Laurence Lerel

French director Christian Vincent charts the dissolution of a long-term relationship with his third film, based on the novel by Dan Franck. Daniel Auteuil and Isabelle Huppert star as Pierre and Anne, a couple who have been living together as husband and wife for several years. Although they never married, they do have a fifteen-month-old son, Loulou. One night at the cinema, Anne refuses to take Pierre's hand and the strained moment leads to her confession that she has fallen in love with another man. Although Pierre seems at first to take the news calmly, he becomes increasingly desperate and enraged as the days pass, while the distant Anne walks a fine line between embarking on a new romance and trying not to hurt Pierre too greatly. When a pair of friends, Victor (Jerome Deschamps) and Claire (Karin Viard), announce that they are finally marrying after their own years-long relationship, it sparks a final confrontation between Pierre and Anne.