''In the Shadow of Women'' (french: L'Ombre des femmes) is a 2015 French-Swiss

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Philippe Garrel Philippe Garrel (; born 6 April 1948) is a French director, cinematographer, screenwriter, film editor, and producer, associated with the French New Wave movement. His films have won him awards at Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. ...

, starring

Clotilde Courau Princess Clotilde Marie Pascale Courau (born 3 April 1969) is a French actress. She is married to Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World: ''Volume I Europe & Latin America''. Burke's Pee ...

Stanislas Merhar Stanislas Merhar (born 24 January 1971) is a French actor. He was born in Paris in a family of immigrants from Slovenia. He works in cinema, television and theatre. In 1998 Merhar won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in the ...

, and Lena Paugam. It was selected to open the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

section at the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...

. It is the second installment in Garrel's trilogy of love, the first being ''

Jealousy Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety. Jealousy can consist of one or more emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness or disgust. ...

'' (2013) and the third being ''

Lover for a Day ''Lover for a Day'' (french: L'Amant d'un jour) is a 2017 French drama film directed by Philippe Garrel and starring Éric Caravaca, Esther Garrel, and Louise Chevillotte. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes ...

'' (2017).

Plot

A filmmaker Pierre is working on a documentary film about the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. He is married to Manon. However, he encounters Elisabeth, an intern at a film archive, and has an affair with her.

Cast

Release

The film had its world premiere as the opening film of the

section at the

on 14 May 2015. It was released in France on 27 May 2015.

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an 87% approval rating, based on 38 reviews, with an average score of 7.4/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film received an average score of 74, based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Eric Kohn of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'' gave the film a grade of B−, saying, "with its luscious 35mm photography and playful depiction of passionate lovers reaching a breaking point, the swift 72-minute drama delivers a satisfying riff on moody, intimate material Garrel has mined to richer effect many times before." Scott Foundas of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' described it as "a tightly focused romantic drama that exudes the narrative terseness of a good short story and the lucid craftsmanship of a filmmaker in full command of the medium." ''

Cahiers du cinéma ''Cahiers du Cinéma'' (, ) is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca.Itzkoff, Dave (9 February 2009''Cahiers Du Cinéma Will Continue to Publish''The New York TimesMacnab, Ge ...

'' ranked it as the third best film of 2015.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Philippe Garrel 2015 films 2015 drama films French drama films Swiss drama films 2010s French-language films French black-and-white films Swiss black-and-white films Films directed by Philippe Garrel French-language Swiss films 2010s French films