Entre Nous

In occupied France in 1942, Léna marries a soldier she does not know in order to avoid deportation to Germany. In the same years an art student named Madeleine loses her first husband to a stray bullet in the street; after the Liberation she meets an actor, becomes pregnant and marries him. In 1952 they meet at their children's school in Lyon. The closeness between them soon starts straining both marriages. Diane Kurys's film rests on her own mother's story; Kurys is telling her parents' separation and the friendship that caused it. The narrative does not define or name the bond between the two women; it only shows how strong it is. Miou-Miou plays Léna and Isabelle Huppert plays Madeleine, with Guy Marchand as Léna's husband. The film was nominated for the best foreign language film Oscar. Who it's for: Viewers who like French drama, narratives of friendship between women, and European cinema of the 1980s. Who it's not for: The narrative prefers to leave things unstated and may not satisfy a viewer wanting a clear answer. The husbands' point of view is also almost absent.