Lindon and Devos are two of the best actors in current French films they do not disappoint- and deserve respect for taking on a hard subject. Unfortunately though it does present an interesting dilemma and sensibly avoids any easy or sentimental solutions, I'm not wholly convinced it goes deep enough to justify ninety minutes of our time. One wouldn't expect a story like this to be fun and it certainly isn't. Their relationship is predicated on that state. over-helpful sister, who comes to visit w It always remains an uncertain thing, a stop-gap perhaps, a comfort in time of need. This interlude helps keep the Bertrand-Lorraine coupling from being too fast, too romantic, or too intense. Le Ny herself plays Nathalie, Bertrand's over-helpful sister, who comes with husband Jean-Paul (Grégoire Oestermann) and baby boy to stay over for a bit with Bertrand and Valentine. But that may not show who most needs the other. Lorraine's relationship is newer, and she balks at her new role with her boyfriend. Bertrand has a longtime commitment to his wife. The day comes when Bertrand and Lorraine do more than keep each other company when they begin to go to the hospital to see each other. And that, of course, becomes the routine. And she has an automobile, and since Bertrand has a long bus and train ride to get home, she gives him a lift back to Paris in her car. We know less about Lorraine except that she's a graphic designer who's scatterbrained and wholly unready for the role of Mother Teresa. He lives with a teenage stepdaughter Valentine (Yeelem Jappain), who detests him and continually makes excuses not to come see her mom. She's been in and out of hospitals for five years with breast cancer. They also get to know the ladies at the newsstand/gift shop where Bertrand regularly gets a certain magazine for his wife. ![]() At first, they simply meet again and have coffee at the cafeteria. Bertrand is so wise, patient, and long-suffering it comes to bug her. Far from the attentive mate with the tireless bedside manner, she's not sure she's ever going to be able to cope if she winds up with a boyfriend who has permanent damage from colon cancer. Bertrand, a German teacher whose afternoons are free for these visits, encounters a flustered Lorraine on her first time at the hospital dropping a file of papers and unable to find the ward where her boyfriend's bed is. To Le Ny's credit she dares not to show any patients or doctors, tears, flashbacks, or scenes of working life, though she does fall into a couple of clichés otherwise. As Bertrand and Lorraine, the excellent Vincent Lindon and Emmannuelle Devos are together again as they were two years ago in Emmanuel Carrère's La moustache. Chraccter actress Anne Le Ny makes a creditable directorial debut with this story about a man and a woman who connect in a hospital where their significant others are cancer patients and they are daily visitors.
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