Éliane Weiss (almond-eyed, mischievous-under-a-smooth-surface Emmanuelle Devos) is an elementary schoolteacher in Paris who is fiercely attentive to the needs of everyone in her life, from her old-fashioned husband and her daughter to her neurotic widowed mother and her pupils. Attentive to everyone, that is, except herself. So her friends and family are puzzled and their tongues sent a-wagging as they notice their obliging Éliane suddenly taking her writing practice seriously and becoming, mon dieu!, independent. She takes up smoking, buys a laptop and spends a few too many late nights with a handsome young publisher. What is happening to Éliane?

Idit Cebula’s charming comedic drama tracks Éliane’s gradual awakening to her own voice as a writer set against the conventional stresses of her daily life. Women’s lib should be old news in Éliane’s world, but it is touching to watch Devos’s character bloom, awkwardly, to the befuddlement of those around her. Trés charmant! —Marie-Jo Mont-Reynaud, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Directed and written by Idit Cebula. Photographed by Stephan Massis. With Emmanuelle Devos, Gérard Darmon. (90 min. In French with English subtitles. Seventh Art Releasing)

(Deux vies plus une, France 2007)

October 3-9, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas