When Claire Denis takes to the battlefields of love and war, she exposes what is often obscured about the human condition. In acute character studies led ferociously by such celebrated actors as Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Huppert, Denis lays the murkiest intricacies of relationships bare.

Inspired by Yasujirō Ozu’s Late Spring, 35 Shots of Rum (2008) sees Denis...