Adaptation of the Le Roux affair by André Techiné, starring Catherine Deneuve.

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Nice, 1976. Returning to France after her divorce, Agnès Le Roux settles down with her mother Renée. She is the rich owner of the Palais de la Méditerranée, the renowned casino on the Côte d’Azur which is ripe for takeover by the mafia because of its financial situation. In this context, Agnès meets Maurice Agnelet, a lawyer and counselor of her mother. This charming man will convince Agnès to betray her mother so that he can gain from the sale of the casino, and will be accused of Agnès’ murder when she disappears in 1977.

There is neither conflict nor mystery in this lukewarm adaptation of the Le Roux affair, which has haunted France’s collective memory for over 40 years. Because he has chosen to keep a certain distance from the actual facts, André Téchiné, a deep and passionate filmmaker, gets lost in a story that is too big, taking on too many focal points (the mafia, the casino, the mother-daughter relationship, the love story) to make any of them really shine. Shared by three leads, the heart of the movie beats without conviction during two very long hours. Even Adèle Haenel, much more vibrant than Guillaume Canet or Catherine Deneuve, has a hard time fleshing out her character.