BRIGHT SUNSHINE IN (UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR) World Cinema

Divorced artist Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) is in a rough patch in her romantic life. Though she has her lovers, including married men and her ex-husband, she fears that true love might be forever out of reach. Master filmmaker Claire Denis returns with this wryly funny, sensual and sophisticated look into the inner world of a woman of a certain age. Opening the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and inspired in part by Roland Barthes’ “A Lover’s Discourse,” BRIGHT SUNSHINE IN features tender images of life in Paris and a surprise appearance by Gérard Depardieu. The true heart of the film, though, is another mesmerizing performance by Binoche as a woman hungry to find and hold on to love. – Sudeep Sharma