At first sight, the interesting plot about relationships of new Gilles's mistress and his daughter seems original, but since the third shot the intrigue becomes predictable. Because of the weak dramatic structure, the film is sluggish.
The story is clear. A philosophy professor named Gilles (Éric Caravaca) has a relationship with Ariane (Louise Chevillotte), who is one of his students. Gilles' daughter, Jeanne (Esther Garrel), moves in to live with them after being kicked out of her boyfriend's apartment. Later, we find out that Ariane is attracted to young men and she also was shot for the cover of porn magazine. One of the strangest things that Gilles and Jeanne does not understand who Ariane is. In my opinion, the actress so badly pretends to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, that her heinous character is obvious from the very beginning.
There is one positive thing, it is an idea, that false love helps father to establish relations with his daughter. And thanks to negative example of Ariane's behavior, Jeanne and her boyfriend made up and started to appreciate each other. The fuzzy and weak conflict is over like that way.
It is not clear what happens in Ariane's soul when she says to Gilles and Jeanne that she loves them both. Furthermore, it is not clear what happens in souls of all characters at this film.
The climax is too vague, we also watch as Ariane has sex with another young man. And what conclusion should we draw from this? It is not the first time. The scene like that we saw at least twice before, so it is not surprised us at all.
As for director of photography work, it is very simple. The shots are flat without any perspective and depth. The mise en scenes are not built well, big close-ups are not always well connected with previous frames. It may seem, that the editor did not have enough time to make image on the screen more technical quality.
The color score, perhaps, must help us to believe in this story and must give us an opportunity to perceive it more reliably. And that's the whole idea! I suppose, that it would have been better if the director had spent more time working with actors than on pondering the color rendition of the film.
To sum up, the idea of the film lies on the surface, and the director's conception is too simple for the quality artistic expression.
