Je l'aimais (2009)

Devastated by her breakup after seven years of marriage, Chloé (Florence Loiret Caille) takes refuge with her two children at the home of her in-laws, Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) and Suzanne (Christiane Millet). Pierre immediately takes her far from Paris, to the family chalet in the heart of the mountains, so she can get her mind off things and feel better. Pierre is calm, discreet, and rather taciturn; he hardly speaks. Chloé remains crushed and depressed. The days go by with her barely present, hardly seeing her children, though life will have to resume: the children will have to go back to school and see their father again. One evening, Chloé breaks down and lashes out, lamenting this family of in-laws where no one is supposed to make a noise, and that she herself let her husband leave her without making a sound, without fighting, without talking. Pierre takes it in, then, he who is usually so quiet and reserved, tells her by the fireside about his past infidelity. He tells her everything about the woman he still considers his one true love: Mathilde (Marie-Josée Croze), a young international interpreter. Spontaneously and unexpectedly, in a single night, Pierre tells Chloé the great secret that has haunted him for twenty years. He recounts his love story, the one that made him feel alive—he who, as he puts it, never thought he had a knack for life. With Mathilde, he experiences true love and becomes another man. Pierre reveals all his fears, doubts, and sufferings, which Chloé listens to, fascinated yet unsettled. This story forced Pierre to confront himself, his contradictions and choices, his role as a man, and his shortcomings. Pierre had never spoken about his love for Mathilde. But that night, in the intimacy of the chalet, Pierre remembers that he did not give everything up for this love, choosing a safer, more familiar path instead: marriage. In a single night, the life of a man who did not dare is laid bare.