Catherine Frot and Sandrine Bonnaire are two of the finest French actresses of their respective generations (as a - necessary - sidenote: Frot is in GREAT shape for a woman in her 50s!), and their duel here (literally, in one scene: there is a short fight scene between them) is something worth catching. The film begins with a strong sense of mystery, as the viewer tries to understand the reason behind Frot's obsession with Bonnaire's daughter, but when that reason is revealed, the picture stalls, and the main twist is telegraphed at least 10 minutes before it occurs. It's an elegant and sophisticated film, more of a drama than the thriller its trailer tries to present it as, but too slow for either genre. **1/2 out of 4.

This is a film where it really is best to know nothing about it beforehand. Don't watch the trailer. Don't read any reviews. (Don't even read this review!) Elsa is going through a sticky divorce. Works as an assistant in a pharmacy. Appears rational, has poise, is a seemingly normal – if depressive – middle-aged suburban mother.But then she spots little girl Lola at a birthday party. Can't take her eyes off her. Has to know about her. Has to get near her somehow. She's obsessed with the girl. As if she's seen a ghost.Is this girl Elsa's dead daughter Lucie reincarnated? (I'm wondering) Hope not. Don't want this film to turn into a supernatural freak out.Is little Lola gonna get pinched? Or her mother bumped off? Hope not. Don't want everything going bananas into psycho slasher melodrama either – Elsa going all crazy bonkers. Keep this restrained Mr Nebou (director), keep it all contained within the realms of plausibility.He does. Even though there's a scene where the 2 nice mothers have a bit of a ding dong (its a good fight too. By "good" i mean some serious hair pulling going on) No knifes come out though.The film sustains suspense throughout, engrossing you (me) with a thrillerish edge of tense dread right to the end.Turns out to be based on a true story. Really? Yep, it can/does happen. This film convinced me.

I thought this was a great film, totally compelling, with fine acting. In answer to the implausibility of the plot (based on true events) I would say that a mother can have a sixth sense about her offspring. Some people are much more visually aware than others and I think it's therefore possible to have an idea of what someone would look like years later. Besides there may well be photographs and memories of what close relatives looked like at a similar age which would heighten that sense of recognition. As for Sandrine Bonnaire not recognising Catherine Frot as the woman she presumed dead lying on the floor of the hospital, we don't know if they had much, if anything, to do with each other in the hospital and, panic-stricken as she was after realising that her own child had perished and in the midst of an inferno, it's perfectly plausible that she did not remember her. This is a film which will stay with me for some time and I'd thoroughly recommend it.

This is a movie best enjoyed if you know nothing about it except that it is a fun thriller, so I wouldn't advise reading any reviews before seeing it.At the heart of the film is the premise that there's a special connection between a mother and her child that cannot be denied.The movie is very good at hiding where it's going. At first, you're not sure if you're watching something seamy, then you fear it may be about violence done to a child and finally it's fun to find out where it actually is going. You're not even sure if you're watching a thriller or a drama. It's keeps you on the edgeCatherine Frot is perfect as a woman who lost her newborn baby years ago in a hospital fire and thinks she's found her living with another family. You sympathize with her despite the fact that she may be insane or at least nearing a breakdown and even while you don't know whether her intentions are good or evil.I only have once concern about the movie, and that's the ending. So please don't read this if you haven't seen the movie as I'm about to give the ending away!!!First, I can't believe that finding out one's mother is not one's mother could be as easy on a child as depicted here. This part was done too cavalier and was simply not believable. However, what bothered me more was the very last scene. Forget the practical, legality of the situation depicted in this movie, a child's parents are the parents that raised her in a loving caring way. To see this woman, who had no relationship with the child during her entire life, who may still be in a dubious mental state, then walking alone with her at the end of the film was to say the least creepy. Either this was intended by the makers of the film to have a creepy ending, or it showed some lack of concern for children.Regardless of the ending, this is great fun.