7. An Impossible Love (Un amour impossible); movie review

AN IMPOSSIBLE LOVE
Cert 15
135 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, nudity

Why do some women keep going back to bad men? It's all been explained by voles!
I found myself digesting several articles on this subject after watching  Catherine Corsini's Impossible Love.
It transpires that the answer could well be chemical. Apparently, experiencing a loss from a partner such as a separation or death is akin to an addict craving drugs. 
An American study shows that voles separated from their partner demonstrated high levels of a stress chemical, corticosterone, and experienced an overwhelming anxiety due to their loss.  
The voles are driven to go “home” to their partner because only then does oxytocin (the feel-good hormone associated with pair bonding) help ease the anxiety the separation caused.
I digress hugely. Virginie Efira's character Rachel is not a vole but an extremely attractive woman in her mid-20s who falls for the dazzlingly handsome Philippe (Niels Schneider).
Further research has led me to discover that Philippe has Dark Triad personality - narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Apparently, men with these traits are confident and athletic lovers.
Philippe ticks all of the boxes and Rachel is hooked, unable to walk away even when he behaves appallingly towards her.
During a breakneck romance when all seems to be heading towards marriage he drops out that he will never wed her and he would even be happy if she hooks up with someone else as long as she keeps seeing him.
The alarm bells should have been ringing louder than a fire engine's but Rachel even consents to him impregnating her,  presumably in the hope that he will be lured permanently to her side.
She could not be more wrong and An Impossible Love becomes focused on his feckless attitude towards their daughter.
Jehnny Beth plays the child, Chantal, in later life and narrates Impossible Love throughout.
I'm not sure the explanation is required because there is no ambiguity about what is happening on screen. Indeed, so angry did Mrs W and I become that we were shouting at the screen (we watched a review version at home).
An Impossible Love is an attractive movie. Its participants are as beautiful as its backdrops and its 50s/60s jazz soundtrack is set in the opening scenes.
And the more I think about it, the more impressed by Efira nd Schneider I am. They reflect real flawed personality traits convincingly.
Mrs W was not so keen. She felt that Rachel was stupid to accept Philippe's behaviour.
But, as the voles show us, she just can't help it.

Reasons to watch: Compelling and stylish drama
Reasons to avoid: Its characters had us shouting at the screen in despair

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? In France in 1965, 5.9% of children were born outside of marriage. In 1997, the figure was 40%.

The final word - Jehnny Beth: "There’s a definite message in the movie. The whole story is linked to the fact that this woman in the 1950s felt she had to behave in a certain way, and the man was the one who ‘knew it all’. Her lack of confidence was partly why the drama happened."

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