A gentle, sad romantic drama in the spiritual vein of Brief Encounter and the Before Sunrise trilogy. Emmanuelle Devos plays Alix. She is unsatisfied with her stage-acting career, growing estranged from her lover, and unexpectedly pregnant in her forties. Gabriel Byrne co-stars as Doug, an English academic in France for a funeral. They first encounter one another on a morning train and spend the afternoon bonding and flirting, though both understands it is doubtful whether their quote-unquote relationship has a future. As indicated by the title, the film has a limited scope and a quiet demeanor, but it achieves its goals well. The on-location photography of busy Paris has a day-in-the-life naturalism. The tone is tender, subdued, and melancholy. And Devos, as always, delivers a majestic performance. In one memorable scene, she goes to an audition. Her first reading is subtle, guarded. Then, told by the casting director to be "more moving," she gushes tears and thunderously shouts in the second. The way the scene unfolds, the way she conveys the coldly fish-out-of-water quality of an audition in front of an ambivalent observer and the abrupt tonal shifts demanded of her, is mesmerizing.

B+