Philippe Claudel made a stunning debut with his first feature-length film I've Loved You So Long and has retained some of the elements - not least Kristin Scott Thomas in Before The Winter Chill. In the former movie Scott Thomas played a doctor who'd been struck off the register after the mercy killing of her terminally ill small son; this time around she is the wife of a neuro-surgeon Daniel Auteuil and both are best friends with psychiatrist Richard Berry. Auteuil has contrived to postpone his mid- life crisis until well into his sixties and it takes the shape of a young waitress/whore,Lou, some forty years his junior. This is, of course, plot enough for films set in the world of today but Claudel thickens the broth by straying into David Mamet territory and investing Lou with a mysterious and sinister extra layer or two. All three principals turn in excellent performances and if it fails to eclipse or even equal I've Loved You So Long it comes pretty close.
Review of Avant l'hiver
