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Synopsis:
Lea
(Elsa Zylberstein) and Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) are
sisters. The film begins with Lea, the younger sister by
fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon
realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers
to each other. Juliette has just been released from prison
after serving a long sentence. Lea was still a teenager when
Juliette, a doctor, was convicted of the murder of her
six-year-old son. Lea contacted Juliette when she was
released and suggested that Juliette come to live with her.
Juliette had no particular desire to see her sister again.
Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), Lea’s husband, is quite reserved,
almost hostile, about Juliette's presence under their roof.
Luc and Lea have two adopted Vietnamese daughters, who are 8
and 3 years old. Luc's father, Papy Paul (Jean-Claude
Arnaud) also lives in the house. He's a charming old man who
spends all of his time reading since a stroke deprived him
of the power of speech. Life together isn't easy to begin
with. Juliette has to relearn certain basics. The world has
moved on and she often seems confused. Although she may seem
cold and distant, her attitude stems more from her being ill
at ease. Helped by some, such as the kindly but tactless
social worker and her open-hearted but depressed parole
officer (Frederic Pierrot) whose confidante she becomes,
Juliette is also rejected by others, particularly employers
who throw her out as soon as they find out what she did.
Lea's attitude is ambiguous. She avoids talking about
Juliette's terrible crime and time in prison at all costs.
She wants nothing to blunt the happiness of their reunion
and getting to know each other again. Luc mentions it
reproachfully, as does Juliette in a different way.
Gradually, the real Juliette emerges. She opens up to the
world once more, thanks to her two nieces, with whom she
becomes very close after being very stiff with them at the
beginning, and Michel (Laurent Grevill), a friend of Lea's,
and Papy Paul, who, in a more symbolic way, knows what it's
like to be locked away. Juliette gets a job as a medical
secretary at the local hospital on the condition that she
never mentions she used to be a doctor. Her relationship
with Lea becomes much stronger and more intimate. Even Luc
succeeds in pushing his preconceptions to one side and
seeing Juliette as his sister-in-law, not as a murderer. But
a huge questions hangs over Juliette's renaissance. Why did
she do such a terrible thing fifteen years ago? For all the
others, it's a recurrent thought that they dare not put into
words. And for Juliette, locked away in her secret, it's a
burden to bear, which holds her back from engaging in her
life and believing that she too has the right to be happy.
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