I never read a single review of _L'Attesa_ before the film.
So the mystery of the plot is not revealed in advance.
Otherwise I might have skipped it and missed another great
Binoche performance.

Binoche plays Anna, a griefing mother. The dead son's
unsuspecting girlfriend Jeanne lands in Sicily the night
before his funeral reception, and Anna hides the tragedy
from her. Jeanne stays with Anna for a period of time,
waiting in vain for the son to arrive. One night Anna
spies on her undressing. They have conversations, dinner,
afternoons at the lake. Jeanne leaves the mansion, finally
getting an inkling of the truth.

The film has apparently won a number of awards and is well
received. The performances are terrific. The story is
more than a bit shallow. The point of reference,
needless to say, is Kieslowski's _Blue_, where Binoche
plays another griefing survivor. The super-shallow
focal length lens work, huge close-ups of Binoche's
eyes and face, and even the deep peers into coffee
cups, are unmistakably _Blue_ references. (Of course,
you will be hard pressed to find any U.S. review
of the film that mentions _Blue_, since the U.S.
critics are still doing their disgusting Bolshevik
white-washing of Kieslowski's contribution to cinematic
history.) Anna and Jeanne talk at length about
jealousy, and there is a sense that Anna is jealous
of Jeanne. This reminds me of the scene where
Binoche's Julie in _Blue_ confronts her late husband's
mistress in a bathroom.

That scene also crystalizes the profound gap in
quality and ambition in the two films. The mistress
exclaims that Julie's husband once told her she
can count on Julie, who wants to be good -- even
if it means helping her own husband's lover. Julie
indeed transforms her misfortune and initial isolation
into empathy, into recognition of our connectedness.
_L'Attesa_ is in contrast cloistered, is strictly
about personal grief. _Blue_ ends on a stunning,
hopeful high note, the "song for the unification of
Europe" soaring through the end credits. 24 years
later, Kieslowski is forgotten, minor films like
_L'Attesa_ receives undeserving high praise,
and the European Union is falling apart.

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