cclaimed French filmmaker Olivier Assayas follows up on the international success of Fin Aout Debut Septembre and Irma Vep with this sweeping adaptation of the sprawling three-volume tome by Jacques Chardonne. Set in three chapters spanning from the beginning of the 1900s to after WWI the first section takes place in the fictional village of Barbazac located in the Cognac region. Protestant pastor Jean Barnery (Charles Berling) learns of his wife Nathalie`s (Isabelle Huppert) infidelity from the village grapevine and sends his daughter away. At the same time 20-year-old Pauline (Emmanuelle Beart) returns to the village after the death of her father. Pauline and Jean are almost immediately attracted to each other when they first meet at a ball. Soon Jean installs Nathalie and their daughter in an apartment files for divorce and resigns as minister. The second chapter opens with Pauline visiting Jean who is bedridden in a Parisian hotel from tuberculosis....