At 50, Kristin Scott Thomas’s impeccable bone structure and diction (French, English) ratify her cool, rapacious “charm” as a business power schemer, in a Parisian complex of offices that recall the glassy city of Jacques Tati’s Playtime. Too soon, she’s gone (imagine Meryl Streep exiting The Devil Wears Prada early). We are left with Ludivine Sagnier as her devious, monotonous assistant, spinning plot cogs including a murder. Alain Corneau directed with crisp, Cartesian relish, but this story of female friendship and betrayal in the French big-biz world loses force and begins to seem very programmed. (2010) — David Elliott
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