LEAVING

MA'S VIEW

Another French movie about an extra-marital relationship but no comparison to Mademoiselle Chambon!  The film stars the always impressive Kristen Scott-Thomas, blast her eyes for looking so gorgeous at the same age as me!  As the wife of a successful surgeon, she is trying to restart her career as a physiotherapist by setting up her own business at home; this requires some renovations - financed by her unsympathetic and condescending spouse.  Unfortunately, the husband's penny pinching leads to the employment of a Spanish migrant labourer  - and you guessed it, the wife falls for him.  In contrast to Mlle Chambon, where the sexual tension builds because of the lack of consummation and the husband wrestles with his dilemma of desire vs family responsibility, in  Leaving there is no such struggle and there is far too much consummation!  The wife falls deeply, irrationally in love (or lust? - hard to tell since Ivan's character is so underdeveloped), abandoning husband and children without a qualm of conscience and without any regard to practical considerations of earning a living or where they will live.  Certainly there is an indication that hers has not been a fulfulling life, marrying the first man who was kind to her in a foreign culture and then being housemaid and chauffeur for so long to their now teenage children.  The force of her passion and her willingness to abandon all for her lover reminds me of Anna Karenina and indeed, like Anna's husband, the husband here turns into a sadistic control freak, refusing divorce, closing joint bank accounts, preventing both her and the lover from finding work in his attempts to force her to return to him.  And true to the Russian story, such great passion can only end tragically. And so it does.

My score:  7/10


PEPE'S VIEW

I think this is the first French Movie I have seen that left me cold.  Luckily Kristen Scott Thomas was the lead or it would have sunk into oblivion where it belongs.  There was almost no sexual tension although lots of sex and the ease with which the Elizabeth (Kirsten Scott Thomas) gives up her family and luxurious life for the life of penury with her lover left this viewer cold.  Director and joint writer Catherine Corsini resorted to melodrama and dramatics as the film came to its climax - not a good look in a movie purporting to be "real". 
Probably the tone of the film is best exemplified by the scene in the short where Elizabeth is serving dinner for the family and melodramatically drops the serving dish of food in the kitchen because supposedly she "can take no more". 
A very disappointing film and as Ma said, compared to Mademoiselle Chambon where the sexual tension and tension within the relationship of husband and wife is so real that I was kept enthralled, this film lost my interest after about 30min. 
I couldn't care about the characters which is always a sign that the film has failed for me.

My Score:  5/10