In Claire Denis’ latest masterpiece, Sara (Juliette Binoche) and her husband, Jean (Vincent Lindon), are deeply in love well into their 50s. But Jean, a retired rugby player with a prison record, can’t hold a job or maintain a relationship with his son. Enter François (Grégoire Colin), a friend to both, and a potential threat.
Sara and Jean have a good life, even if it’s uneven: Sara is a popular radio host, but Jean is a shadow of his former self. He can’t hold down a job and his teenage son is distant from him. When François, an ex-boyfriend of Sara’s and former rugby player himself opens a sports agency and wants Jean to work with him, it seems too good to be true. And as in every Claire Denis film, it is: simmering tensions begin to roil the couple, with disastrous results. Brilliantly directed, with fierce performances by Binoche and Lindon, Both Sides of the Blade is a must-see.
Director Biography
Claire Denis was born in 1976 in Paris (raised in colonial Africa in four different countries) and has since created a body of work that has influenced scores of filmmakers. Her masterpieces include Chocolat (1988), Beau travail (1999), 35 Shots of Rum (2008) and White Material (2009), among many others.