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Silence is golden in Stephane Brizé’s drama, a familiar tale lent richness by note-perfect turns and stealthy storytelling.

Brief Encounter and innumerable French romances hover as family man Jean (Vincent Lindon) slips into an affair with Véronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain), his son’s teacher.

But Brizé’s observational takes let the film breathe, giving Lindon and Kiberlain room to register in minute detail the agonies of guilt and ill-timed amour.

Cathartic pay-off comes in the largely wordless climax, which packs a blindsiding wallop of emotional conviction.

Kevin Harley is a freelance journalist with bylines at Total Film, Radio Times, The List, and others, specializing in film and music coverage. He can most commonly be found writing movie reviews and previews at GamesRadar+.