Fri 6.30; Sat & Sun 2.00, 4.00, 6.30; Mon 8.45

The third film from the husband-and-wife, actor-writer-director team Agnes Jaoui and Jean Pierre Bacri, this gentle, rather sad ensemble comedy negotiates similar terrain to The Taste of Others (Le gout des autres) and especially their previous VIFF favourite, Look At Me (Comme une image).

Set in an unseasonably damp Provence, the film follows the return of feminist author Agathe Villanova (Jaoui) to the small town where she grew up. She’s here to help her younger sister Florence (Pascale Arbillot) sort out their late mother’s affairs, but she also means to take the opportunity to announce her candidacy for public office.

Her schedule soon fills up when she agrees to a series of interviews for what she assumes will be a flattering documentary portrait by divorced filmmaker Michel (Bacri) and his protégé, Karim (Jamel Bebbouze), the son of the Villanova’s elderly Algerian housekeeper. Proceeding with a mixture of benign incompetence – Michel – and barely concealed hostility – Karim – the interviews completely derail Agathe’s plans, and reveal emotional fault-lines running much closer to home than she ever anticipated.

This is an attractive, subtle film with delicious performances, and lots going on underneath the surface.