Both Sides of the Blade

At first glance, the bickering couple in Both Sides of the Blade seems familiar, as does the set-up to a love triangle involving affairs from the past.

However, this romantic melodrama from acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis (High Life) is a deliberately paced yet quietly perceptive examination of fractured family dynamics that’s well acted and intellectually challenging.

The film opens with a montage depicting sumptuous scenery and happy times for radio host Sara (Juliette Binoche) and sports agent Jean (Vincent Lindon), whose passionate embraces during a seaside getaway suggest an idyllic marriage.

Once they return to Paris, though, it’s all downhill, as hostility simmering beneath the surface gradually comes forward. The catalyst is a job offer for Jean from Francois (Gregoire Colin), his former best friend and Sara’s ex-lover.

Meanwhile, we learn details about Jean, a divorced ex-con trying to reconnect with his biracial teenage son (Issa Perica). Jean needs the new job as a step toward rebuilding his own life and reputation.
Still, the arrangement involving Francois is fraught with complications, as Sara discovers an old spark that she must conceal from Jean. Yet he senses they are growing apart, and his frustration builds to the extent an ultimatum seems inevitable: “If the past is coming back, I’m out.”

The film reunites Binoche with Denis and co-screenwriter Christine Angot (Let the Sunshine In), upon whose novel the film is based. Together they explore conspicuous themes — such as commitment, trust, regret, intimacy, jealousy, and temptation — with depth and complexity through richly textured characters.

The expertly modulated performances convey emotion through subtle glances and body language as much as dialogue. Binoche projects a vulnerability in Sara without seeming passive or weak, while Lindon (Titane) avoids aggrieved husband tropes.

With more talk than action, the incendiary script peels back layers that expose more of their dirty laundry than we might need to care to see. But the film’s refusal to take sides or settle for simple resolutions shouldn’t be confused for moral ambivalence.

Instead, as it drags on, Both Sides of the Blade rewards patience with a sophisticated dissection of a relationship that should strike a nerve with its lack of sentimentality and conventional catharsis.

Rated R, 116 minutes.