ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

THE SPECIAL bond between a mother and a child sits at the very heart of French-language thriller Mark Of An Angel. It is that emotional tie that allows you to accept some of the more far-fetched elements of the plot.

Before the intriguing storyline reaches its conclusion the audience is required to accept several incredible twists. The quality of the acting and the tightly controlled direction of Safy Nebbou combine to ensure that you are so caught up in the moment that you are willing to accept events at face value.

Catherine Frot stars as Elsa, a woman in the middle of a messy divorce and a possible custody battle for her son Thomas (Arthur Vaughan-Whitehead). When she calls to collect him from a children’s birthday party, Elsa notices a pretty young girl of around six or seven.

Her fascination with the child becomes an obsession as she befriends the girl’s mother Claire (Sandrine Bonnaire) and starts to insinuate her way into every aspect of their family life.

This sounds like a familiar plot from countless Hollywood films like Fatal Attraction or Cape Fear, but Mark Of An Angel is a more subtle, suspenseful affair. We can’t help but question Elsa’s sanity but the film is so even-handed that you are prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt even as the evidence against her mounts.

Frot is expertly matched with French veteran Sandrine Bonnaire in this Hitchcock-style thriller that keeps you absorbed and engaged all the way to a jaw-dropping finale.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Safy Nebbou
Cast: Catherine Frot, Sandrine Bonnaire, Wladimir Yordanoff, Antoine Chappey, Michel Aumont, Michele Moretti
Screenwriters: Cyril Gomez-Mathieu, Safy Nebbou
Certificate: 15
Running time: 95 mins
Country: France
Year: 2008