An epic costume drama spanning the first three decades of the twentieth century, Les destinées offered Assayas a rare chance to expand his films' scope (and budget) while retaining his usual intricate focus on emotional nuances, relationships, and the gulf between idealism and maturity. It is 1900: Jean (Charles Berling) is a Protestant minister from a prominent family, who suspects his wife (Isabelle Huppert) of adultery. The arrival of a beautiful young woman (Emmanuelle Béart) sets into motion circumstances that will change all their lives. The dawn of World War I, the economic upheaval of early-twentieth-century France, and the opening up of religious and cultural mores: Les destinées moves through these events and more, all the while finding space for Assayas's true interests: the bittersweet fragility of love, and those moments when human relationships wither or blossom. Adapted from the novel by Jacques Chardonne, Les destinées is “intoxicatingly beautiful. . . . An impressive epic” (New York Times).