Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Delphine is the author of an autobiographical novel that has become a bestseller. Exhausted by the promotional tour, just when she feels out of place, paralyzed by the idea of having to start writing again, she meets Elle, a young, attractive, intelligent, intuitive woman who seems to understand her better than anyone.
Roman Polanski's psychological thriller about identity and creative crisis has intriguing premise—a novelist haunted by a mysterious doppelgänger-like figure—drawing on Leila Slimani's source novel. The performances from Emmanuelle Seigner and Eva Green are capable, with Green especially bringing an unsettling charisma. Cinematography is polished but unremarkable for Polanski. The film's exploration of writer's block, parasocial obsession, and identity dissolution is reasonably distinctive, though it treads familiar psychological thriller territory. The ending is the film's biggest weakness—it feels ambiguous in an unsatisfying rather than thought-provoking way, undercutting the tension built throughout and leaving audiences more confused than intrigued.