Valentine and Alex are married, both lawyers, specializing in family matters. In the exercise of their profession, they defend the divorce of the XXIst century: amicable, in the serenity and the respect of the other, preferably in alternating custody and in the blended family, far from the cased vases and the atrocious scenes of household of the previous generation. Until the day when, because of a banal adultery, their couple shatters. And the reality of the divorce catches up with them: no more fine words, just war.
Acting
Demaison and Arbillot's escalating pettiness is deliciously uncomfortable.
Writing
The script weaponizes legal jargon against domestic intimacy.
Director
Valérie Guignabodet
François-Xavier Demaison
Alex
Pascale Arbillot
Valentine
Mathias Mlekuz
Arthur
Brigitte Catillon
The judge
Juliette Arnaud
Florence
Zinedine Soualem
Marc
Cyril Couton
Olive
Serge Hazanavicius
Ben
Geneviève Casile
Valentine's mother
Nailia Harzoune
Célia
Juliette Poissonnier
Frédéric Maranber
Le client
Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus
Le pompier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Guignabodet's film arrived during France's 2010s divorce law reforms, satirizing the gap between progressive policy and human pettiness.
Pascale Arbillot improvised the vase-smashing scene; the genuine shock on Demaison's face made the final cut.
FR
