The story is slow to start but grows into a well-done film. I had to suspend suspend disbelief at the film’s starting premise (no performance would ever be interrupted), but enjoyed the music (Shostakovich!) and really loved the progression of character development for the rest of the film.

I thought Ariane crumbled a bit too much to be believable, and that Melanie was a bit too much of a blinking doe. The movie would have been more powerful if Ariane retained more of her initial confidence, and if Melanie had emoted a bit more. I was also disappointed that, despite the fact that the director is a musician, the two main musical mid-performance stumbles were not at all credible.

It’s a long film (almost three hours), but the kind you don’t want to end and are secretly happy every time a fade out leads to another scene rather than the credits.

Beautifully done, with plenty of themes to chew on: the fragility of power, the role of spectator and actor, the conflict of emotion and responsibility.