Léa Seydoux's riveting performance lights up Mia Hansen-Løve’s excellent new film, the sweetly affecting tale of a Parisian single mom who finds herself in the arms of a married friend. Sandra, a young mother who raises her daughter alone, pays regular visits to her sick father. While she and her family fight tooth and nail to get him the care he requires, Sandra reconnects with Clément, a friend she hasn't seen in a while. Although he is in a relationship, the two begin a passionate affair.
Using naturalistic style and deceptively simple storytelling to advance ideas that are deeply in tune with felt experience, Hansen-Løve allows us to experience Sandra’s emotions fully. The always superb Léa Seydoux shines in this provocative, stirring portrait of a woman keeping the universe in balance.
INSIDE tells the story of Nemo (Willem Dafoe), an art thief trapped in a New York penthouse after his high tech heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside the fortress-like apartment with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive.
Both a psychological thriller about survival and an art film all about art and its meaning in our lives, INSIDE is equally tense and entertaining. Glued together by another Dafoe performance that proves he’s one of the greatest actors of all time, INSIDE is the rare crowd pleaser that still has something interesting and important to say.