Kings & Queen

Arnaud Desplechin's stunning film interweaves two stories, that of Nora (Emmanuelle Devos), a single mother about to marry for the third time, with the tale of her eccentric ex-husband Ismael (Mathieu Amalric), committed to a psychiatric ward by mistake and convinced of his own tragic destiny. Their lives intersect once more when Nora, troubled by her young son's uneasy relationship with her new fiance and the failing health of her father, visits Ismael with an unusual proposition she hopes will solve her problems. Wonderfully played by Devos and Amalric, with a fine cameo from Catherine Deneuve as an ice-cool psychiatrist, Kings and Queen is an intricate, funny and moving epic that explores the complexities of life, love and family ties. (Artificial Eye)