French Neurosurgeon Paul (Auteil) and his English wife Lucia (Scott Thomas) have a chilly marriage going. Lucia keeps complaining she is not fulfilled, she's bored as if it is all Paul's fault. Their son is grown with a child of his own. Everything appears stilted, strained. It is difficult to engage with them, their lives are so bourgeoisie and privileged.There's a café close to Paul's office where a young Algerian server - another Lou (Bekthi) - tells him he operated on her as a young girl which he denies as it's not his field of surgery.That's the set up. Paul starts to stalk her, finds out she's a prostitute and a liar.I imagine the deeper meaning is that he is hunting for his past but it is all a terrible muddle in the end. The script falls apart in the police station as it pushes the disbelief metre several feet off the ground.Don't waste your time even though the leads give it their almighty best. It just never gelled for me.4 out of 10.

I watched it to complete Leila's filmography but this movie is so far her worst participation. It's not that she's bad because for one time she acts beyond her roots but this movie is just meaningless. It collects all the same, old, abused and boring clichés of French drama as it's about the hollow life of a bourgeois couple: we have their total traits: the housewife, the prestigious doctor husband, the tennis matches, the opera, the on shoulders pull, the successful kids and even if they got all this, they feel empty, they are unable to communicate and they want to add fire to their « poor » life. Sure, every body shares this spleen for a perfect life, a life when dreams come true but on the other hand, i really don't care about the bed stories of the bourgeois. It's all the more painful here that practically all the scenes are totally useless as the characters sits, walks, drives alone and in the silence ! Maybe some appreciate this but sorry I skip it

Daniel Auteuil plays a doctor and Kristin Scott Thomas plays his wife. They lead a rather secluded, rather upper-class existence, in a big house, with a very big garden. He works long hours, she does not. He starts getting flowers sent to him, and who is sending them and why, is the central mystery of the film.This is a slow film, a very, very, slow film. It starts off slowly with domestic scenes and only picks up very slowly. We are unsure about the central mystery. Different indications suggest different answers and different roads to go down.Around half-way through the film is an unexpected scene which seem to jar with the rest of the film. It is not the most important scene in the film. However it does introduce an important theme. Although having said this, it does not introduce a development in the plot. As such then, do not expect the little scene to have any greater significance than it has. Do not expect anything more.Film is rather like real-life. Everyday domestic matters feature strongly in the film. Accidents can happen, mistakes can be made, situations can be misunderstood.The fragility of life is a central theme of the film. So too are personal circumstances and change of circumstances. Film is about relationships, lies, lives and loves. There is passion but it is very pent-up.It is a slow film, a little dark, with a few brief life-enhancing moments.Tip: Opera buffs may understand a mistake. 8/10.

I saw this film at the Leiden film festival 2013 (LIFF). This could have been the umpteenth story about a middle aged man courting a younger woman, thereby endangering not only his marriage but also risking the health of his patients while slacking off his daily job as a surgeon. But luckily it is much more, due to some complications interwoven in the script that make it interesting nevertheless.The daily package of red roses that are delivered throughout the running time of the film, seems important and thus are we eager all the time to know who is behind it. In the end we still wonder who is sending the roses, however, but it does not really matter in hindsight as many other sub-plots take over and keep us interested.A possible minus point is the shallow role of the surgeon's wife. She has typically not enough on her hands other than waiting for her husband to come home. Her garden is her only daily occupation that keeps her from complete boredom, so it seems. I had assumed more initiative from her side, as she is obviously not the unlearned and meek kind of woman.All in all, I can only moderately recommend this film. It is not a total failure, however, due to several sub-plots that keeps us interested. But that is all there is. This film ranked a moderate 26th place (out of 55) for the audience award.