jotix100 Suzanne, the wife of Samuel, a French doctor, seems to have it all. Not being completely happy with her life, she decides to go back to work in the field of physiotherapy. For that purpose, the house in a suburb of Nimes, in Southern France, must be fixed so she can have her own space. The renovation is going to be done by a Spanish worker, Ivan, who knows what to do. Everything seems to be progressing well, but Suzanne is instrumental in an injury to Ivan. Feeling guilty about it, she volunteers to bring him to his home across the border, so he can see his daughter. Suzanne is taken with the atmospheric surrounding and suddenly she begins differently about the hired hand she employed. They begin a passionate love affair that destroys her marriage to Samuel, even at the expense of losing her two children. Suzanne, shows character when she confesses her love for Ivan to a husband that does not want to hear about her sexual relations to a man that he feels is not worthy of her. Suzanne, being English, shows a decent attitude by coming clean. Samuel, who wants to keep her, in spite of her having cheated on him, has a surprise coming because he did not think what a woman in love can do to get her way.Catherine Corsini gives this film a better production that probably was not in the screenplay by Gael Mace. She shows an affinity for making the viewer get involved in all that is happening, although sometimes it is hard for a woman in Suzanne's position to throw everything away in exchange for an uncertain life with a man that is obviously not in her same class. Ah, well, it all for the sake of love. Ms. Corsini shows good judgment in trusting cinematographer Agnes Godard to work wonders with the magical light of Southern France.The main attraction for watching "Leaving" is Kristin Scott Thomas, a versatile actress that has been working a lot in France. One cannot blame her when she gets juicier parts like her Suzanne in this movie. Wonderful Sergi Lopez plays another one of his hunks. His Ivan shows he is a decent man that has fallen for the forbidden woman out of his league. Yvan Attal plays Samuel, the deceived husband.

danisa22 This is a movie that stays with you for a long time after viewing. The acting is extraordinary, the attraction between the two main characters palpable, the photography and sceneries beautiful. I really don't see why so much negative criticism is directed toward the plot. Passion has existed since time beginning and this is what this movie is all about, an uncontrollable, all consuming passion, which is made very believable by the wonderful.Kristin Scott Thomas. Sergi López is perfect as the lover, passionate, tender and vulnerable. If you are looking for the reason why Suzanne falls in love with him, those are the main reasons, besides the fact that he is obviously good looking. I enjoyed the movie tremendously. Every scene was essential to the plot, no gratuitous sex scenes here. And the style was elegant, as only the French know how to do.

john-5949 Kristin Scott-Thomas is an accomplished actor, but she cannot save this desperate concatenation of clichés - unhappy housewife with two children, boring (and apparently misogynistic) husband, swarthy, sexy Latin lover, etc. Her character, Suzanne, elicits little or no sympathy, only bewilderment and contempt, and her husband, Samuel, seems much too good for her. The sex scenes between her and Ivan were risible. Ms. Corsini might have intended for the film to have a narrative and a them or themes, but it was impossible to detect any. If Ms. Corsini had any "punches to throw," she pulled them. Some of the scenery, however, was well-photographed, so at least Agnès Godard comes away with some credit.

davidgee Kristin Scott Thomas has tended to play hard-ass women who keep their emotions in check, but in LEAVING the ice-princess doesn't just melt, she gives off steam! The sex scenes between Suzanne, the bored Parisian housewife, and her beefy Spanish builder are fairly bracing; it's clearly not his intellect that she's fallen for. Swapping her sterile modern house (irony here: her dull husband's a surgeon) for a seedy suburban apartment doesn't seem to faze her, but drama - indeed, melodrama - is lurking on the horizon. The director gives most of the ending away at the beginning (echoes of Sunset Boulevard), which I thought was a mistake.Wife takes lover, tragedy ensues: it's a hoary old plot that shouldn't work but it does, thanks entirely to Scott Thomas's incandescent performance. Hopefully, she'll win awards for this.