Love Me Tender

Krieps has a remarkable ability to communicate everything without saying much at all. She never leans into melodrama, instead allowing every glance, silence and small expression reveal the emotional weight Clémence carries.

It does slightly fall off in its final act, becoming aimless and stretched, and ending around 30 minutes after it should. But its first two acts are deeply enthralling, and Vicky Krieps' lead performance is an Odyssean tour de force.

This is an intelligent, sophisticated, sensual movie that never quite arrives at the explosively passionate moment it appears to promise.