The biological clock, so often used as a blunt weapon to bludgeon women for their various life choices, is here handled with delicacy, intelligence and warmth. This elegantly bittersweet French-language drama by Rebecca Zlotowski has much to recommend it, but foremost is a radiant Virginie Efira in the central role. She plays Rachel, a 40-year-old teacher who is fulfilled and happy in her life, and who is newly in love with Ali (Roschdy Zem), a fellow student in her guitar class.
To an effortlessly sophisticated score of bustling chamber music, Rachel fully embraces the romance and all that comes with it – including a growing relationship with Ali’s young daughter. But this serves to alert her to the fact that she too would like to be a parent. And as her gynaecologist (veteran documentary film-maker Frederick Wiseman is unexpected in the role) tells her, time is running out. Deftly written, directed with a light hand and acted with honesty and heart, the picture captures moments of acute sadness without ever sinking into sentimentality.
In cinemas and on digital platforms in the UK and Australia
