Before The Winter Chill review

Claudel’s drama unfolds...

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Spicing up a bourgeois relationship drama with the promise of thrills, writer/director Philippe Claudel’s third film can’t decide whether it wants to be Hidden or Looking For Hortense .

Surgeon Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas seem comfortably married, until ex-patient Leïla Bekhti starts sending him roses. “They’re flowers, not death threats,” he tuts, intrigued, then in trouble.

Though there’s plenty of thoughtful meditation, there’s also the faint whiff of middle-aged wish fulfilment. The result is elegant if frosty, and just a touch too long in the tooth.

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Freelance Writer

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.