Critics reviews

When Ozon is firing on all pistons, he has a remarkable talent for hitting all the right emotions exactly when they need to be, for making every second count as both a visual exchange between characters as well as between the viewer and image.

Ozon's construction is ingenious, and he manages the film's warring tones -- tongue-in-cheek comedy on one hand, raw pathos on the other -- with elegance.

It amply displays the director's talents for deftly chronicling the slow but steady accumulations of humiliations, betrayals, and abandonment that tear two people who once loved each other apart.

Habitually concerned with the perils of coupledom, the director here launches a comprehensive assault on the traditional heterosexual model of family and marriage.

For anyone who's ever reflected on a past relationship and wondered when the seeds of its destruction were laid, the film should resonate strongly.

A relatively sober, deftly told tale of coupledom for grown-ups