Film & TV

John Maguire: No pleasure in the pain of this petulant Parisian love triangle

Claire Denis’s Both Sides of the Blade has its moments, but the endless shouting and door-slamming eventually prove too much

Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon: starring in Claire Denis’s Both Sides of the Blade

Both Sides of the Blade, a tortured relationship drama by Claire Denis, opens with a fleeting moment of joy. On a sun-dappled beach somewhere in France, Sara (Juliette Binoche) and her partner of more than a decade, Jean (Vincent Lindon), take a happy swim in the sparkling sea. Their holiday having ended, the couple return to the grey streets of Paris in the midst of a Covid lockdown. Everyone is wearing a mask, the skies ...