Post Coitum: Animal Triste Reviews

It's rare to see so much naked suffering in a romantic comedy, even one that gradually slips into the dark waters of sexual obsession. But that's precisely what makes French actress turned director Brigitte Rouan's second feature so special. Diane (Rouan) is an attractive, middle-aged book editor with a hardworking lawyer husband (Patrick Chenais) and two adolescent kids. Her cozy life is turned upside down when she meets Emilio (Boris Terral), the swarthy young friend of one of her authors, and the two begin an ardent affair. As she gives herself up to this passion, Diane grows increasingly reckless and begins to take risks -- leaving work for afternoon trysts, abandoning her family during Christmas vacation to return to Emilio -- that make it clear this casual affair of the heart is careening dangerously out of her control. Then the inevitable happens: Diane gets dumped, and her whole world comes crashing down. Rouan is a far better actress than director -- snippets of fantasy, flash forwards and jump-cuts only work against the film's emotional momentum. Luckily, it's her performance that drives the film, and she's extraordinary: The scene in which a shattered, drunken Diane strips herself naked as she stumbles up the stairs to her apartment is nearly heart-stopping in its raw, emotional honesty.