Both Sides of the Blade

Director Claire Denis won the Silver Bear for Both Sides of the Blade this year at the Berlin Film Festival so I was really excited to see it last night at the Broadway.  Sara (Juliette Binoche) and her husband Jean (Vincent Lindon) have a blissful holiday at the sea but, when they return home to Paris, she catches a glimpse of a man on the street and this has a profound affect on her.  It turns out that he is Jean's former business partner and Sara's former lover Francois (Gregoire Colin) and he has come back into their lives after an absence of ten years with a business proposition for Jean.  Sara expresses concern but Jean ultimately accepts because he needs employment to support his son Marcus (Issa Perica) who lives with his mother (Bulle Ogier).  Sara continually professes her love for Jean but is completely undone when she inevitably meets with Francois at a company event.  Jean is jealous but she cannot deny the love she has always felt for Francois and begins an affair with him leading to an explosive confrontation and an ending that took me completely by surprise.  This is a slow burn without exposition so details about the three main characters are revealed very slowly (or not at all because I still have so many questions).  Binoche and Lindon give very understated performances in the first two acts with interactions that seem almost polite as they circle around each other in the claustrophobic environment of their apartment but every look and gesture is fraught with meaning.  The tension builds and builds until an incredible scene in the third act where they both give vent to all of the feelings they have been repressing and the performances are riveting.  I enjoyed the story about a marriage that seems very happy but eventually comes undone; however, many of the subplots, including Sara's job as a radio personality and Jean's troubles with his son, seem very superfluous with themes about race that are very underdeveloped.  This is an interesting psychological drama with compelling performances but I found the lack of detail to be very frustrating.