First Hit: Occasionally brilliant, other times confusing and in the end adequately done.
Powerful business women, deceit, and the climb to the top were the subjects of this film.
Christine (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) is a senior executive in Paris looking for a way to move up the corporate ladder and into New York, the home offices of the company she works for. Her beautiful smart assistant Isabelle (played by Ludivine Sagnier) works long and hard to make her boss look great.
Isabelle also loves Christine and at times you think the reverse is true as well. They both sleep with men but are not married. When Christine takes credit for Isabelle’s work, Isabelle is hurt and as their relationship becomes strained, it becomes an office war.
Although the story and intent feels clear, the script, direction and acting, especially on Thomas’ part, is uneven. At times intense and other times her acting came with a lack of energy.
The script called for American business men coming to meet with them, but quite frankly, the meetings had no substance and everything seemed miscast in those moments. Isabelle sets the mood for the last half of the film as she becomes vengeful.
There is a reference to some past unstableness, but it isn’t explored and this makes her devious plan to get back at Christine questionable.
Thomas is not at her best in this role. I liked the hardness of her character, but felt the part meandered. Sagnier carried a lot of energy in her role with expressions and a wavering mental stability, but where did this come from? There was little mining and character development but this wasn’t her fault. This was the issue of the writers Alain Corneau and Nathalie Carter who created a script which had holes in it. What business were they in? What were the skills required? I wanted some depth to the business and the characters. Alain Corneau directed this and he needed to create a film with more depth. It seemed more aimed and the con.
Overall: Not much of a film when it is seen from its whole.