Lack of good storyline.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is just one more example of why French cinema is the best in the world. No real story, no suspense, no sex, no violence BUT! also no cgi, no slasher movie #24, no Hollywood Formula - The Sequel. In short just two of the finest actors on the planet running with a situation in which virtually out of the blue the wife tells the husband she is in love with another man. It's never that quite out of the blue of course and one of the strengths of this movie is the writing on the wall which is in turn projected onto the screen; the smallest hairline fractures in what, on the surface, is a perfect marriage complete with child. Juliette Binoche is a fine actress, no question, but it is virtually impossible to picture anyone other than Isabelle Huppert in the role of Anne and the same applies to Daniel Auteuil as Pierre, each of them fully inhabits the role in which they have been cast and although there is outstanding support from Jerome Deschamps and Karin Viard it is really superfluous. One of the finest films of the 90s, not just from France but from anywhere but it helps if you go to movies to check out the Human Condition rather than to spray popcorn at each other.

I wouldn't be surprised if Huppert faked her affair with the mysterious "lover" just to solicit her husband's attention. At the end it seems as if she had "forgiven" him and tries to win him back to their home. Her interpretations often grab the audience by the throat, leaving spectators often in a state of mesmerizing suspense, and I am using the word "mesmerizing" because of her ability to seduce and own the viewers' eyes. She is a woman who has a way with men, she makes them believe what she wants, she makes them want her and agonize over her, over her insane requests and behavior throughout the movies she stars in.After seeing her in some of her movies, I feel comfortable saying that she could have been a good main character in Ozon's "Sous le Sable", where the role of the widow is played by a phenomenal Charlotte Rampling (remember when she runs on the beach at the end?).

As the title reveals, the story is about the separation of a couple. No reason for the behavior of the two spouses is given whatsoever, and this behavior remains completely unconvincing though the whole movie. The story is told as seen from a third party, who tries to be fully objective, but, in the end, it only manages to describe two irresolute characters, without any particular strong emotion or feeling.The two main actors look as if they really do not care about the other or about themselves. At each point of the movie, you feel that both the reconciliation and the divorce are equally plausible, and, after some time, you start to care as much as the two main characters (i.e., at all) about what will happen.

This is a well filmed, well acted, movie, but it lacks a good story. They're separating, it's sad. It would have made a great short, but at 85 minutes it seems too long. The performances are excellent, and the use of mood and color is nice, but that alone is not enough for a good film. At least not for me.