The things we do for love

Après la vie (After life)

(2002)

According to my daughter, who should know, the wisest observation I ever made is that it's impossible ever to know what goes on inside a relationship you're not part of. (Hard enough knowing what's up with one you are part of, but that's another story.) That is the moral of the dramatic third of Lucas Belvaux's trilogy. If we've watched the other two films, Cavale and Un Couple épantant, ahead of this one, as I did this time around, you think you know all about the loveless marriage of morphine addict Agnès and corrupt cop Pascal, but you've been looking from the outside, and getting less than half the story. From inside the relationship, it's a very different story, a much more complex story, a much harder and more satisfying story.

As I've mentioned, Belvaux says that the trilogy is not meant to be viewed in any particular order, that he wants people to see it in every arrangement. That's as may be, but the European release order, which is what I followed this time, seems designed to peel the layers of the onion most effectively. Then again, when I watch in a different order next time, maybe I'll feel that's the perfect order. In any case, a remarkably successful narrative experiment: two excellent films, and one rather silly one that nonetheless makes its contribution to the whole.