Leaving

Director: Catherine Corsini
Cast: Kristin Scott-Thomas, Sergi Lopez and Yvan Attal
Releasing in cinemas: 22 July 2010
Rated: MA 15+

Leaving is a film with the underlying theme of obsession; specifically the sexual obsession of a wealthy doctor’s wife with a poorly paid labourer, balancing the obsessional behaviour of the doctor who is determined to keep his wife at any cost. Sounds French - well it is. A short teaser grabbing your attention at the start of this dramatic ill-fated romance, and flips you smartly into the plot. But the teaser doesn’t give the full story - we have to wait till the end of the film.

Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is in her late thirties, a successful doctor’s wife living in the south of France. Becoming bored with domesticity, she decides to return to work as a physiotherapist, and husband Samuel (Yvan Attal) sets up her consulting rooms in their garden. The renovation work is carried out by a Spanish cut-price worker Ivan (Sergi Lopez), a builder and odd jobs man who’s been in prison.

Suzanne gets the hots for Ivan after an accident. Her passion is sudden and violent; an obsession which threatens her marriage, the love of her children and indeed her financial future. Suzanne becomes trapped at the mercy of her husband who is equally obsessed and uses every means to prevent her leaving him, including cutting off her credit cards and financial support.

Blinded by love, Suzanne sticks with Ivan but at such cost, even pawning her watch to survive. Things move to another level when Suzanne and Ivan steal art works from the doctor’s home in the hope of selling them and escaping together. Unfortunately the wages of sin are still to be collected.

At first glance, the plot appears to be the classical love triangle; yet the doctor’s wife is prepared to lose everything for her passion. Suzanne starts to live from one day to the next with her impoverished lover. She won’t compromise and takes the hard road to romantic adventure. But at what cost?

Kristin Scott-Thomas, with her fluent French, gives a memorable performance, capturing the underlying passion behind a cool bourgeois veneer. Her face transforms; at first passive, then aging before your eyes to the final determination of the end sequence. Thomas came to prominence in 1996 for the The English Patient and she recently appeared in another French film I’ve Loved You So Long.

Sergi López is probably best known for his sinister roles in Pan’s Labyrinth and Dirty Pretty Things. Here he’s in more pleasant guise as the amorous if slightly bewildered Ivan. Caught up in his own and Suzanne’s wild sensuality, there are times he appears to regret the situation. There’s a hardness in his eyes, suggesting a dark side not too deeply hidden.

An intriguing Yvan Attal (Rush Hour 3) portrays Samuel, the possessive doctor. Unable to let his wife go, he brings down retribution by cutting her off financially so she is - in a Dickensian word - penniless. Early in the film you have sympathy, when he realises his wife no longer loves him and has run off with the odds jobs man. As his fixation in getting her back increasingly distorts his thinking, he’s become equally obsessed. Attal effectively makes the complex character change convincing.

Director and co-writer Catherine Corsini doesn’t shirk strong dramatic violence or steamy seduction scenes, increasing the tension and intrigue as the story unwinds. The sexual encounters are sometimes gentle, sometimes torrid. In Corsini’s hands, what might have been merely a routine re-run of the old love triangle has a clever structure and makes for an impressive film.

Crisp lyrical cinematography on location in Nimes adds colour to the performances, while the use of music from Truffaut’s films is a neat touch. A running time less than 90 minutes keeps the tempo brisk to advantage. If only other directors took note.

John Bale