Subtitled movies don’t bother me as much as they used to. There used to be a day when I would only watch a subtitled film if someone forced me to watch one in one of my high school classes. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I seek out movies with subtitles, but I no longer instantly reject them. In fact, before watching Leaving (Partir), I watched two other Kristin Scott Thomas French subtitled movies (Tell No One) e le Dis à Personne and (I’ve Loved You So Long) Il y a Longtemps que Je T’aime. I was a huge fan of I’ve Loved You So Long. I would have enjoyed Tell No One more had I been paying more attention to it. I may be willing to give it another chance one day. This brings up my next point with subtitled movies. If you hope to get anything out of a subtitled film, you’ve got to devote your 100% attention. I did that with I’ve Loved You So Long, and I did that with 2009’s Leaving as well.

In Leaving, Scott plays Suzanne, a stay-at-home mother of two teenage children who no longer need her. She is the wife of Doctor Yvan Attal (The Interpreter, Munich), a man with whom she has supposedly fallen out of love. The movie is based on Suzanne’s premise, lacking something in her life, and engages in a passionate love affair with Ivan. Ivan is a young immigrant and ex-convict whom her husband hired to help with home improvements. There is a mutual attraction from the onset, but it takes a unique situation to put the two of them in a position to act on their feelings. The two become a torrid love affair that makes Suzanne want to forget her life entirely to experience this passion with Ivan that she has either never had or has been missing for years. There are three significant problems with this movie. They are the direction, character development, and story development.

I would have taken the movie in a different direction. The components were in place for something great here. A wealthy, beautiful woman with a loving family willing to give up everything to pursue passion with a young, rougher, and more dangerous man. I understand that part of it. What was not understood was why she felt this way. The story jumped into the affair far too early. There was no opportunity to witness this unhappiness or to see this boredom. What I felt was quite the opposite. I saw a woman with everything, including a husband who seemed to love and treat her well. I could understand her feeling passion for Ivan based on the situation she found herself in. I could even understand her acting on these feelings. But abandoning everything because of someone she was physically attracted to was a little much. It would have been a better movie if she had regretted her decision after it was too late. It would have been more meaningful if she realized the physical attraction and animalistic passion Suzanne experienced with Ivan was temporary and she realized that this new feeling was fleeting. And once this infatuation faded, she would be forced to deal with the decisions she has made. And while she admits to wrongdoing and regret, we still aren’t aware of what propelled her down this path. And thus, we aren’t able to sympathize with her.

Likewise, it would have been a better movie if we could have seen a crumbling marriage or Samuel being unloved or abusive. But we never got to see this. We were forced to believe Suzanne and understand her decision-making even though there was no objective evidence to suggest that she was unhappy and needed a passionate love affair to make her happy. What is ironic is that later in the movie (during scenes where Suzanne IS miserable), Scott does a masterful job of conveying this misery and sadness. She can display such a wide range of emotions, so I wonder why her character was so limited early on. The early scenes were the ones that got edited out. Regardless, if you started watching the movie halfway through and were intrigued, you would want to go back and watch the first half. If you did this, you’d almost think you were watching a completely different movie with all of the same characters.

Plot 8/10
Character Development 6/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing  5/10
Cinematography 7.5/10
Sound 7/10
Hook and Reel 9.5/10 (the first scene will grab you)
Universal Relevance 9.5/10 (falling in love with another while you are married seems to happen all too often)
76%

This movie could be in the high 80’s/low 90’s range. Taking it in a different direction would have left the viewers with a different, more meaningful taste. I wanted a more in-depth story. I felt like this movie chickened out at the end. I want more meaning and rationale behind Suzanne, her decisions, and the consequences of her choices.