Consentement mutuel (1994)
Directed by Bernard Stora

Film Review

Bernard Stora's third cinema feature after Le Jeune marié (1983) and Vent de panique (1987) is this chilling little drama in which a divorced couple allow themselves to become caught up in a nasty game of psychological warfare, having agreed to conduct their separation like responsible adults.  Even at the end of the film we cannot be sure which of the two protagonists - the ex-husband Romain (Richard Berry) or the ex-wife Jeanne (Anne Brochet) - we should be siding with.  Are Romain's concerns over Jeanne's mental instability justified or has he invented the whole thing for purely selfish goals?  Is Jeanne the devoted mother that she wants to believe she is, or is she an egocentric free spirit who has assumed the role of a single mother with reluctance, to score an easy victory over the man she now hates?  The main interest of this film is that it doesn't force us to take one side or the other.  Instead it dares us to try to work out who the real victim is.  The problem is that there is no neat resolution to the drama and the ending that Stora offers up is too simplistic to be remotely convincing - this is the film's one central failing.

Richard Berry, the star of Stora's first film, is supremely well-cast in the role of Romain, the manipulative ex-husband who might, plausibly, have dangerously sociopathic tendencies (judging by the creepy way he interprets his daughter's artwork).  Berry's naturally placid persona makes him ideal for the part of the unflappable tough guy in thrillers but it can also work well in more down-to-earth dramatic roles, such as the one he is given in Consentement mutual.  Throughout the film, Berry looks like a man who is unsure of (or unwilling to reveal) his true identity, a man whose motives are never quite apparent.  Occasionally, he looks like someone who is on the point of falling apart but who just manages to hold himself together.  He may look like a skilful manipulator, but it is possible that his actions are motivated by nobler human instincts, the need to protect his daughter and keep his ex-wife from having a nervous breakdown.  Our inability to divine Romain's true nature is perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the film, and Berry's subtle performance has most to do with this.

Anne Brochet is just as impressive as the ex-wife who is gradually being driven to the edge, partly by her former husband's Machiavellian game playing, but also by her obvious personal failings.  So convinced is Jeanne that she is the victim that she becomes incapable of putting up the slightest resistance to Romain's coolly executed stratagem of exposing her as a bad mother.  Yet she is just as self-absorbed and irresponsible as her ex-husband.  She goes to a dinner party dressed like a woman of the street, abuses her fellow dinner guests when they fail to take her side, and absconds several times with her daughter (taking her out of school as she does so) on the merest pretext.  Romain and Jeanne are two of a kind, but who do we pity most: the manipulative hypocrite or the self-pitying social misfit?  Much as we would like to, the film prevents us from taking sides.   Perhaps it is trying to tell us something - not to be judgemental about others in real life, maybe?  Every coin has two sides and people are not always what they seem to be...

Film Synopsis

Going by appearances, Romain and Jeanne's divorce is an amiable affair.  The couple arrive at an equitable settlement - their daughter Mado will live with Jeanne and will spend every other weekend and half of her school holidays with Romain.  But as she struggles to adapt to her new life as a single mother Jeanne becomes aware that Romain is doing his utmost to undermine her and show what an inadequate mother she is.  Not only does he have the ear of Mado's headmistress, he has also started to work on her own parents, exaggerating her failings and bringing to their attention any defect that he notices in her behaviour.  Jeanne soon realises the game that Romain is playing.  He intends to take Mado away from her...