Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
The life of a respected British politician at the height of his career crumbles when he becomes obsessed with his son's lover.
Louis Malle's adaptation of Josephine Hart's novel is driven by Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche delivering intense, committed performances that elevate the psychologically charged material. The plot of obsessive extramarital desire is compelling but fairly well-trodden territory, and Malle's direction is controlled and atmospheric without being visually distinctive. The ending is suitably bleak and consequential, fitting the film's fatalistic tone, though not especially surprising. The film's novelty lies mainly in its cool, clinical European sensibility applied to English upper-class moral collapse, which gives it a degree of distinction without being singular.