This late summer romance begins
literally on the oddest note when a French construction worker, Jean (Vincent
Lindon), finds himself having coffee at the apartment of his son’s grade school
composition teacher, Mademoiselle Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain). Invited
to son Jeremy’s class to describe why he enjoys knocking down walls and laying
brick for a living, Jean accepts the teacher’s invitation to inspect a window
in her apartment. Replacing the window while she naps, Jean finds himself
snooping through her things, intrigued by a picture of the elegant blonde woman
playing the violin. Later as the two share coffee and cookies Jean is surprised
to find himself making a peculiar request, almost as if another person was
speaking.
“This may sound a bit strange, I
heard a piece on TV once – could you play me a tune on your violin? Can you say
tune?”
“Yes, you can. It would be
terrible, you’d be disappointed.”
“I won’t insist then.”
“No. What was the piece you heard on TV?”
“I don’t remember. I just know I liked it.”
“It’s been ages since I played in front of anyone.”
“Stand with your back to me, so you’re not in front of me.”
She does and he’s enchanted. An
affair of the most discrete nature commences – he discovers that she never
teaches at the same school for more than a semester and that if he follows this
sudden, violent passion it will mean upending everything he thought he loved
for an unimaginable future.
Normandy born director Stephane
Brize understands the rhythms and joys of honest physical labor as well as the
perils of the emotionally stifling ennui of small town provincial life. We
observe Jean mixing the concrete that holds the bricks, washing his elderly
dad’s swollen feet, helping his son figure out the direct object of a
transitive verb and, most painfully, weeping in his car when he thinks he’s
seen the last of the teacher. The teacher’s soul is more elusive – we see her
excited as a school girl at the prospect of this forbidden affair, observe her
not pick up the phone when her mom calls bearing family news and watch her tell
her principal why she’s decided not to extend her contract.
Based on Eric Holder’s novel, Mademoiselle
Chambon plays somewhere between the naïve pleasures of middle period
Truffaut, say Small Change, and last year’s haunting Summer Hours.