The Wait

Juliette Binoche is one of France's finest, multilingual acting exports, having making her mark on French cinema in the Three Colors trilogy, and on American cinema in the likes of The English Patient. This year she appears in the Italian drama The Wait.

The film is the story of a grieving Sicilian mother, Anna (Juliette Binoche) who receives an unexpected visit from her son's fiance Jeanne (Lou de Laage), to whom Anna refrains from informing of her son's death.

Director Piero Messina, who previously assistant directed Paolo Sorrentino's Academy Award-winning Italian film The Great Beauty, creates an intimate story that deals with loss, grief, relationships and culture. The film falters in pacing, which feels at times like a snail's pace, though, this is a film of waiting. Francesco Di Giacomo's cinematography is mesmerising, capturing the beauty of natural light and the Italian environment. Though mostly a quiet film, music is effectively used, particularly during the end parade and a hypnotic dance scene featuring Leonard Cohen's Waiting For The Miracle.

Binoche is superb, showing layers of emotive subtlety throughout, and handles grief in a realistic and heartbreaking fashion. The young Lou de Laage is also excellent, providing a subtly ranged performance as well as radiating beauty.

The Wait is a sombre, artistic experience that should impress some, though not all.