In His Hands

In the city of Lille, Claire (Isabelle Carré), an insurance agent, meets Laurent, a veterinary doctor, whose place has been flooded. Following a visit to assess the damage, he determinedly attempts to woo her. Although married with a child, Claire finds herself inexplicably drawn to Laurent. Meanwhile, a serial killer is running havoc in the city, leaving a spate of female victims in his wake. An accidental discovery and Laurent’s seemingly schizophrenic tendencies provide Claire with cause for concern as she begins to wonder who this new acquaintance really is.

In His Hands is an unnerving thriller with a nod to Hitchcock’s Suspicion. The film is superbly performed by two of France’s most popular and prolific actors. Benoît Poelvoorde (the Belgian star of cult success Man Bites Dog and the French smash hit Podium) exudes an uncanny mix of vulnerability and menace as the idiosyncratic Laurent. Isabelle Carré (an award-winning actress of cinema, theatre and television) is effortlessly natural as the ‘normal’ Claire, who, however, is racked with doubt and capable of unexpected behaviour herself.

Director Anne Fontaine, an accomplished director of psychological dramas (How I Killed my Father, Nathalie), once again displays her talent for bringing complex characters to the screen while maintaining a simmering tension throughout the film. Consistently successful in France, she has often been overlooked outside her native land. Thankfully this has been remedied by the 2009 release of Coco Before Chanel, starring Audrey Tautou as the influential designer.