La Femme de Gilles (2004) - film review

In the 1930s, Elisa and Gilles make a perfect couple.  They already have two children and a third is on the way.  Although both lead a hard life – Gilles works at a foundry, Elisa is fully occupied taking care of the family home – they are content.  Then, one day, strange thoughts enter Elisa’s head.  She begins to suspect that Gilles may be having an affair with her younger sister, Victorine...

A banal subject is handled with great sensitivity and with a strong sense of the auteur in this engaging little film from director Frédéric Fonteyne, who is perhaps best known for his intimate 1999 drama, Une liaison pornographique.  With its simple yet potently elegiac photography and minimalist use of dialogue, the film takes us into the inner world of a fragile young woman who senses she may be on the verge of losing the love of her husband.  It’s a subtle and austere film, evocative and poignant, with a remarkable, intensely introspective, performance from Emmanuelle Devos.  The film has some faults – the static photography and general sense of inertia does become wearying after a while, and certain sequences are marred by a twee chocolate box feel which undermines the film’s realism – but it is, for all that, a strangely alluring work with a rare poetic character.

© James Travers 2008

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