Abuse of Weakness

"Abuse of Weakness" is 20 minutes of a great movie and another 85 minutes of nothing much.

Shot with clean, spare simplicity by the Dardennes' regular DP Alain Marcoen, this is a very simple work, almost prosaically so at times-as if Breillat wanted to purge the film of anything that wasn't strictly to the point.

With clinical dispassion and narrative elegance, Breillat has constructed what she calls "a thriller about denial."

Abuse of Weakness is endlessly fascinating and delicious and features the most fearless, complex performance of the year by Huppert.