Juliette Binoche was great as always in this mostly interesting, but occasionally slow and pompous, movie about a woman dealing with conflicting claims on her time, her attention, and her life. Rebecca (Binoche) is a photojournalist who covers some of the world's most dangerous and unstable regions. She is passionate about her work and believes it makes a difference. When she is almost killed while covering an event in Afghanistan, her normally supportive husband objects to the toll her work is taking on himself and their children. She agrees to leave dangerous assignments behind, but is torn between her family obligations and her intense drive to continue her work. This leads to an eventual crisis in her family.The film catches our interest right away, with a fascinating scene in which Rebecca is shown photographing strange events in Afghanistan. It turns out to be solemn preparations for a suicide bombing by a young woman. Rebecca remains aloof, photographing the events and giving no indication of her feelings. When the bombing takes place prematurely, she is badly injured in the explosion. We get a glimpse of how obsessive Rebecca is when she drags herself from the ground to get a few more shots of the aftermath, before collapsing.The movie doesn't take sides. A woman asked to give up a successful career for the sake of her husband and children sounds, at first, unfair and patriarchal. We see how brilliant Rebecca's work has been, and how it has sometimes changed things in forgotten areas of the world. However, we gradually see the effect her many close calls have had on her two daughters, who are constantly afraid she will be killed while away on an assignment, and Rebecca acknowledges that she has an obligation to them as well. But nothing is completely one sided: even her older daughter, who was intensely angry about her mother's risk taking, comes to respect Rebecca's work and mention it with pride during a school project. The family scenes, although lovely and affectionate, tend to drag a bit. Maybe we're seeing it through Rebecca's eyes: she clearly loves her husband and children, but her strongest feelings are directed toward her work. Eventually, Rebecca comes to the painful conclusion that she has to continue with her work, even at the expense of her marriage. Yet even that decision is not without ambivalence; on a new assignment, Rebecca finds herself facing an ethical quandary, when she questions whether has an obligation to try and stop an evil act, rather than just observe and document the incident. The film ends before she finds an answer.

This represents the first great movie I've seen in awhile. We think it's the old Hollywood story about families sticking together. Instead a mother tries to honor her teenage daughter's idealism about the world - an idealism that's desperately needed but nearly impossible to achieve. This mixed in with a home front situation and seems to be beyond ideal. The acting is frequently subtle, sometimes powerful, but they certainly cast the right amount of people (i.e. not too many) to solidify a strong message. I was impressed at how directly the dialogue took on world politics and non-profit organizations. Beautiful camera work - the theme - and a surprise ending make this a must-see.

During the first ten minutes we learn that Rebecca (Juliette Binoche) is a photographer investigating terrorism, putting her own life in danger. Until an explosion takes her back to home. Twenty five minutes later she decides to quit her job. Twenty five minutes later she decides to take her daughter to a refugee camp in Kenya.Until this very point, nothing really happens in the story. It looks like Erik Poppe thought the subject (the terrorism) was enough to carry on the audience. I don't think that worked.The actual story starts after a whole hour of film. Here Rebecca takes a series of decisions making changes in her life and her family. And it's kind of interesting, but you are already too bored by that time.I think the film presents Rebecca's difficulties for staying at home, as the main conflict. But it seems to be too weak for making the story flow.

Juliette Binoche is one of the finest actresses of the past few decades. None of her beauty and vividness have faded with the advancing years. She brings to this role, as with all of her other roles a lot of heartfelt emotion. She plays a war photographer who is at war with herself about her family responsibilities versus her commitment to her dangerous occupation. Nicolas Costas Waldau is brilliant as her husband. A much more appealing character than his Game of Thrones one. The young actresses who play her daughters are also wonderful. One thing I will say is that it's frustrating to watch her put herself in immediate danger. Especially seeing as she has such an idyllic home life with such a beautiful husband, children and a nice cottage in rural Ireland. I won't spoil it for you. It is a wonderful movie, if a little frustrating.