Review: Leaving (15)****

A bored, comfortably-off housewife begins an affair with the hunky Catalan builder renovating her home. Soon their secret trysts become an all-consuming obsession that splits wife from husband and children as sense is cast aside in a desperate search for happiness.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Jul 2010, 14:16 BST
Updated 23rd Jul 2010, 14:16 BST

Catherine Corsini's Leaving is a stark consideration of the frustrations of normal life and the madness that takes charge when love and lust burst through the veneer of marital responsibility.

Kristen Scott Thomas delivers another superb performance as the middle-class French mother whose secret yearnings transform her into a wanton woman.

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Galle Mac's script considers the hidden truths existing behind the cosy faades of many homes. Samuel (Yvan Attal) sees Suzanne (Thomas) as his property and baggage.

Her selfish confession of the affair prompts him to christen the protagonists "the lady and the Prole". He then uses his wealth and influence to wreck the affair with Ivan (Sergi Lpez). But he reckons without Suzanne's single-mindedness.

Unlike Adrian Lyne's 2002 Unfaithful, in which Richard Gere is cuckolded by wife Diane Lane and lover Olivier Martinez, Leaving is a more plausible attempt to chronicle the seismic effects of infidelity on a tired marriage. This is no-frills stuff, and heart-rending in its depiction of two people living on hope, nave dreams and intense sex.

Unflinchingly, it presents two mis-matched (rather than star-crossed) lovers in a catastrophic relationship that can only end in tragedy, disaster, or both.

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Leaving is proof positive that one of our finest actresses is discovering her best opportunities on the continent. The superb ensemble at the heart of this bleak tale of lies and shattered trust also gives voice to the unspoken war between the classes.