La Nouvelle Eve

A lifeguard with a fierce sense of independence may sound like an unlikely femme fatale, but that's exactly what Karin Viard plays in this quirky romantic comedy, set in the new Eden of 1990s Paris. However, in ambitiously updating notions of the stock literary heroine, director Catherine Corsini tempers Viard's aggressive pursuit of a balding, politically active family man (Pierre-Loup Rajot) by adopting the rather rosy view that everyone's soulmate is out there somewhere. Refusing to tone down her all-too-human foibles, Viard cuts a less than sympathetic figure. More importantly, though, she's totally believable.