''Leaving'' (french: Partir) is a 2009 French film directed by

Catherine Corsini Catherine Corsini (born 18 May 1956) is a French film director, screenwriter and actress. Her film '' Replay'' was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Her 2012 film '' Three Worlds'' competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 C ...

, written by Corsini and Gaeelle Mace, and starring Sergi López, Kristin Scott Thomas and

Yvan Attal Yvan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Jacques-Yvan Morin, GOQ (born 1931), politician in Quebec, Canada *Marc-Yvan Côté (born 1947), former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister for the Quebec Liberal Party *Maurice-Yvan S ...

Plot

Suzanne ( Kristin Scott Thomas), is a well-to-do married woman and mother of two in the south of France. Her idle bourgeois lifestyle begins to depress her, and she decides to go back to work as a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

. Her husband, Samuel (

), agrees to fix up a treatment room for her in their back yard. When Suzanne meets Ivan ( Sergi López), a Spanish ex-con hired to do the building, their mutual attraction is sudden and violent. After multiple trysts with Ivan, Suzanne confesses the affair to her husband and promises to give it up, but finds she cannot. She finally decides to give up everything and live to the fullest her all-engulfing passion for Ivan, but her husband will not let go of her and her daughter rejects her, although her son stays connected to her. The new couple soon faces severe financial problems, some of them caused by Samuel: when Suzanne's credit card is rejected, she is forced to sell her Cartier watch at a gas station. In their extreme need, Suzanne and Ivan rob Samuel's house of its paintings and valuables but Ivan is arrested when he fences the stolen goods for them. Suzanne tries to convince her husband that she was solely responsible for the burglary, and that she only took what was hers. She offers to do anything to keep Ivan out of jail, and her husband tells her that, if she comes home, Ivan will be free. At this dilemma, she faints. Back in their home, Suzanne is distant with her family, yet tolerant of her husband's sexual advances. Soon, though, she takes a rifle and shells from a closet and kills Samuel as he sleeps. After driving through the night, she is eventually reunited with Ivan at the ruined house in the hills they had once dreamt of restoring. They embrace and she sobs hysterically. In the distance, a police siren can be heard.

Cast

* Kristin Scott Thomas as Suzanne * Sergi López as Ivan *

as Samuel *

Bernard Blancan Bernard Blancan (born 9 September 1958) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 85 films and television shows since 1989. He shared the award for Best Actor for his role in '' Days of Glory'' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival The 59th Ca ...

as Rémi * Aladin Reibel as Dubreuil * Alexandre Vidal as David * Daisy Broom as Marion * Berta Esquirol as Berta * Gérard Lartigau as Lagache *

Philippe Laudenbach Philippe Laudenbach (born 31 January 1936) is a French actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films since 1963. Career Nephew of Pierre Fresnay (born Peter Laudenbach), Philippe is formed to the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts. He ...

as Samuel's father * Geneviève Casile as Samuel's mother * Michèle Ernou as Madame Aubouy

Reception

The film has been moderately well received by critics, and currently holds a rating of 69% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

.Leaving (Partir) (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 January 2013

References

Notes

External links

* * * * * * {{Catherine Corsini 2009 films 2009 romantic drama films Adultery in films Catalan-language films Films directed by Catherine Corsini 2000s French-language films French romantic drama films Films produced by Michel Seydoux 2000s English-language films 2000s French films