An Impossible Love

France, the late 1950s. Rachel is a beautiful half-Jewish woman who lives in a provincial town and works as a typist. Philippe is an educated man from a wealthy Parisian background. They fall deeply in love, but the future of their relationship—at least for Philippe—is non-existent. Rachel accepts her fate, even after she becomes pregnant. Skilled French director Catherine Corsini (Summertime), adapts Christine Angot’s novel and casts Virginie Efira in the lead role. Efira’s heartbreaking, exemplary performance combined with the film’s artful cinematography and design, successfully capture the novel’s periodic feel and result in an intelligent, sweeping melodrama with some surprising twists.