A truly lovely love story–or non-love story–is "Mademoiselle Chambon," a French offering that begins today. Shot in a small town in the French countryside, it looks at relationships in the gentle, yet accurate manner that often seems to have been patented by French filmmakers.
Jean (Vincent Lindon) and AnneMarie (Aure Atika) are a blue-collar couple. He's a building contractor, she works for a publishing house. They have a young son, Jeremy (Arthur Le Houerou) and they also are close to Jean's elderly father (Jean-Marc Thibault), a resident of a retirement home. Jean visits his father often, and scenes of them together, especially when the son carefully washes and dries his father's feet, show loving care between a parent and a child in a beautiful, delicate manner. This love also is reflected in the relationship between Jean and Jeremy.
Jeremy's teacher, Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain), is a reserved blonde who lives tightly within herself. She's had a career as a substitute teacher, hired for a year in a small community, then moving on somewhere else. But she asks her students if their fathers will speak to the class about their occupations, and Jean arrives, nervous at first, to talk about building houses. She asks about a problem at her apartment. He comes over and fixes it. He learns that she's a former concert violinist, and convinces her to play for him. She's shy enough that she will do it only if she does not have to face him.
They do not see each other again for quite a while. Tension begins to grow, and it is extra-fascinating to watch because they formerly, off-screen, were married to one another. On screen, she obviously has been in this situation before. He has not. Perhaps that's a reason for her work habits Anyway, they meet by chance and she invites him for a beer. There's a passionate kiss, but nothing further. He's innocent enough that he invites her to play at a birthday party for his father. Watching AnneMarie disbelieve, then believe, is a brilliant piece of acting without words.
Director Stephane Brize, who co-wrote the screenplay with Florence Vignon, has a splendid touch with his characters, and a marvelous handle on building tension, which grows until the final frame of the film, a total surprise that we were aware of all along.
Mademoiselle Chambon opens today at the Tivoli
—Joe