Kings and Queen (Rois et reine, 2004)

Starring Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amaric

Written by Roger Bohbot and Arnaud Desplechin

Directed by Arnaud Desplechin

I'd never seen any of Arnaud Desplechin's movies before; this one spells out why he divides people. Me, I've gotta love a guy who jump cuts four times, or none, during a single line. Even when his script fails him, as in many of the innumerable flashback scenes presenting shock revelations that undermine the characterizations, he makes the dialogue seem funnier and wiser than it is. Devos, as a gallery director heading into a third marriage, gets shot like she's Catherine Deneuve. (As a psychiatrist, so does Catherine Deneuve.) Asylum inmate Amalric gets cute scenes with a suicidal anorexic (Magalie Woch), and when, while touring a museum, he explains the knotted adult world to the boy who adores him, it's a tour de force.

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