The catalyst finds Sara seeing her ex, Fran\u00e7ois (Gr\u00e9goire Colin), while walking on the street. She is immediately undone, murmuring her former lover\u2019s name on repeat. Fran\u00e7ois and Jean were friends before Sara and Jean left their partners for one another, and they soon reconnect too, but their interaction largely serves as an opportunity for Sara to indulge her desire. She\u2019s swinging wildly for something better, but also just for something different, even if it destroys the good thing she currently has. The film\u2019s original French title, \u201cAvec amour et acharnement,\u201d is translated \u201cWith love and fury,\u201d and Sara vacillates between the two with dizzying speed, kissing and screaming with equal abandon. She\u2019s impetuous, intoxicated by the promise of another life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The passage of time is unclear in Both Sides of the Blade<\/em>; has it been days, weeks, or months since Sara first glimpsed Francois on the street? In some films, this lack of clarity would be a criticism, but here it keeps everything grounded in the present even as the reemergence of history threatens to upend three lives. There are shadows of the past \u2014 hints at the marriages before Jean and Sara\u2019s current relationships, echoes of Jean\u2019s time in prison and its impact on his life now \u2014 but these aren\u2019t fully carved out in dialogue, just as they wouldn\u2019t be in real life. A sense of immediacy propels Both Sides of the Blade <\/em>forward, though it\u2019s unclear exactly toward what, in a way that is indeed compelling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shot during the pandemic, Both Sides of the Blade<\/em> is heavy with claustrophobia, though COVID isn\u2019t central to its plot. Instead, it just shows up on the fringes and on occasionally masked faces. Though the worst of the isolation has passed, there\u2019s still a sense of being trapped with this one person in a confined space, creating the desire to do something \u2014 anything \u2014 to break out and find freedom. Denis and DP Eric Gautier shoot the three lead actors with startling intimacy; an early scene has the couple speaking on either side of an ajar door, getting uncomfortably close to the actors. Denis has worked with each performer before, and there\u2019s a palpable trust here, which leads to raw performances that work as well when the actors are yelling as when they\u2019re saying nothing at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t the first movie to deal with infidelity \u2014 it\u2019s certainly not the first French film to touch on the subject \u2014 but it doesn\u2019t feel like it\u2019s treading the same water. Both Sides of the Blade <\/em>has elements of the classic erotic thriller, but this one is largely set on simmer, rather than the full boil of many of its American counterparts of the \u201880s and \u201890s. Other than a screaming match or two, it\u2019s quieter, with a more naturalistic approach to sex. The genre often focuses on men\u2019s experiences with cheating, but centering a woman\u2019s feelings sets Denis\u2019 movie apart. Sara\u2019s moments of elation feel most familiar to Diane Lane\u2019s all-too-brief thrills in Unfaithful<\/em>. Unlike that film\u2019s director, Adrian Lyne, Denis isn\u2019t interested in morality or in punishing her female lead for her pleasure, whether derived purely from passion or from merely getting to make her own decisions. There\u2019s no judgment here from the filmmaker (even as I frequently wanted to ask Sara, \u201cWhat are you doing?!\u201d as she sets fire to her own life). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Sides of the Blade <\/em>is in conversation with the aforementioned Let the Sunshine In<\/em>, but while that film tipped toward hope for Binoche\u2019s character, this one is far cloudier for her counterpart. Both were written by Denis and Christine Angot and deal with questions of the nature of who we are in relationships, but each points toward a different conclusion. These stand as two of Denis\u2019 most straightforward films, but they still leave questions lingering for days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Both Sides of the Blade” is out Friday in limited release.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/both-sides2-1024x486.jpg\")
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