Avant l’Hiver (Before the Winter Chill), the third outing by French novelist turned film-maker Philippe Claudel, whose début film Il y a longtemps que je t’aime / I’ve Loved You So Long was an inspired and sensitive work, now returns with another character study. This time, however, he doesn’t focus on an individual but on a bourgeois married couple and an unknown outsider, a third party who attempts to break the apparent bliss enjoyed by husband and wife.
The bad news is that leaving aside the remarkably professional performances by Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas, there’s little heart and even less soul in this icy series of scenes from a marriage. Be it because the tone is too aloof or because the characters themselves are little more than what you see at first sight, Avant l’Hiver comes across as a failed slow burner with a mystery that promises more than what it actually delivers.
This is the story of Paul, a 60-something thriving neurosurgeon married to Lucie. They have been together for some 30 years, which explains the lack of sparkle and a certain tediousness. Nonetheless, Paul and Lucie are happy enough entertaining friends, going to the opera and spending weekends with the family.
But one afternoon Paul starts receiving bouquets or red roses from a unidentified admirer. So Lucie thinks Paul is having an affair and starts investigating on her own. In time, Lou, a good-looking young Moroccan woman, enters the scene with an unusual story all of her own. Not long into the film, the story becomes heavily plotted. So you’d think there would be deep and rich ramifications to the many dramatic possibilities poised.
But few of them are actually really examined. Because the narrative becomes sort of panoramic and it eschews scrutinizing key elements. Lucie as played by Kristin Scott Thomas is imposing, but it’s because of her screen persona, for the character is indeed underdeveloped. Pretty much the same goes for Paul according to Daniel Auteuil, though there are a few more nuances here.
As for the third party, let’s just say that too many ideas have been put into a single character, and so the end result of the many dramatic exchanges is often artificial, meaning things happen because the script says so.
On the other hand, there’s a certain emotional connection between Paul and the unknown admirer that does ring true and touches somewhat significant emotional chords. But the solemnity that envelops much of the film is actually quite off-putting.
Production notes
Avant l’hiver / Antes del frío invierno / Before the Winter Chill (France, Luxembourg, 2013). Written and directed by Philippe Claudel. With: Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, Leïla Bekhti, Richard Berry. Music: André Dziezuk. Cinematography: Denis Lenoir. Editing: Elisa Aboulker. Produced by Yves Marmion, Romain Rojtman. Distributed by: CDI. NC16. Running time: 102 minutes.
