Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Seventh Heaven
Directed by Benoit Jacquot
New Yorker 07/98 DVD/VHS Feature Film
Not Rated

"Matrimony is the high sea for which no compass has yet been invented," German poet Heinrich Heine has observed. Every couple must work out their own solutions to problems. There is no one-size-fits-all. In this fluid and thought-provoking French film directed by Benoit Jacquot, Mathilde (Sandrine Kiberlain) is married to Nico (Vincent Lindon), a successful surgeon. A nanny looks after their young son, and Mathilde occasionally works with her mother (Francine Berge) in a legal business.

Mathilde places herself in the hands of a mysterious therapist (Francois Berleand) in order to treat her fainting spells, kleptomania, and inability to achieve orgasm. He miraculously cures her through hypnotism and feng shui. However, once Mathilde becomes sexually responsive to Nico, he plunges into a funk of his own.

This witty drama filled with clever little vignettes explores the disturbances that can rock a marital relationship when change takes place in one partner. It also shows how difficult it is for men and women to reach the same place at the same time when they're moving at different speeds.

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by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat