Private Fears in Public Places (2007)

A chill runs through Alain Resnais' graceful Private Fears In Public Places. Based on a British play, the French drama features six characters in a series of interlocking scenes, stitched together with glimpses of a snow-covered Paris. There's an engaged couple, a real estate agent, his lonely sister, a middle-aged bartender, and a religious receptionist. They make understated attempts at connecting, but mostly fail: The couple (Lambert Wilson and Laura Morante) bicker incessantly; the sister makes personal-ad dates with men who stand her up. Renais (Last Year at Marienbad) provides an excellent showcase for his cast, especially Pierre Arditi as the weary bartender, resigned to his fate working at an awful hotel bar and caring for his abusive, bedridden dad. But there's a claustrophobia to the film that even dashes of humor — like a fumbling encounter with an amateur porn tape — don't alleviate. The spaces these people inhabit never seem much warmer than the winter landscape. B

You Might Also Like

• Movie Review Private Fears in Public Places | Lisa Schwarzbaum
• Video Review The Belly of an Architect | Melissa Pierson
• Movie Review The Leading Man (1998) | Owen Gleiberman
• DVD Review Train of Life | Laura Morgan
• DVD Review Six in Paris (Oct 21, 2008) | Adam Markovitz
• DVD Review The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (Nov 18, 2008) | Lindsay Soll