Before the Winter Chill

Another middle-class, midlife crisis unfolds here in the way French cinema does so well. Daniel Auteuil is as watchable as ever in the role of a distinguished surgeon whose neatly regulated existence begins to dismantle after a chance encounter. Leila Bekhti plays the fascinating barmaid whose defiant independence from her Moroccan parents somehow strikes a restless chord in Auteuil's previously dutiful husband and father. Between them, Auteuil and writer/director Philippe Claudel ensure that the story avoids the familiar path of older-man lechery, focusing instead on the regrets of a life lived to please others. It's an intriguing premise, but it does leave Kristin Scott Thomas in a slightly ill-defined role as the bored, increasingly suspicious wife, and the script's occasional forays into twisty-thriller territory prove a slightly awkward fit with the character-driven material. Ultimately, it's hard to feel too sorry for those trapped in a life of wealth and privilege, but the assured performances and an overall patina of Gallic elegance make this a well-heeled time-passer.