“The excellent Belgian director André Delvaux (Rendezvous at Bray) moves a few steps into the realm of Resnais in this compelling, difficult 1983 film. A screenwriter (Mathieu Carriere) seeks out the reclusive author (Françoise Fabian) of a sensational novel he is adapting, winning her confidence and affection while she relates the flashback story of the novel's characters (Fanny Ardant and Vittorio Gassman). Told with brisk montage effects, the novel's story is a beautiful mixture of vibrant romanticism and modern self-awareness, as the Ardant character's passion for a rather ordinary man feeds on her perverse taste for self-abnegation and her desire to immerse herself in a great hopeless love. Unfortunately, the modern scenes are never given their due, even though the flashback story depends on the modern one for its ultimate meaning. This imbalance undercuts the film terribly, but Delvaux's gorgeous images and his characters' joyful flashes of self-insight are too forceful to be denied.” Dan Sallitt, L.A. Reader