A tour de force for director/cowriter/star Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and winner of the Special Jury Prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard, Actresses is a pointed and poignant portrait of a middle-aged woman who is artistically successful but generally unhappy. About to celebrate her 40th birthday, Marcelline (Bruni Tedeschi) is rehearsing a production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country while in great personal turmoil. She prays for love and a child while attempting to deal with a meddlesome mother, an autocratic director, a sexy young costar and the reoccurring manifestation of the character she is playing who keeps popping up to offer advice. Though capricious and neurotic Marcelline is also characterized with great tenderness and longing. The wonderful supporting cast, including Noémie Lvovsky (who also cowrote the script), Louis Garrel, Valeria Golino and Mathieu Amalric, offers subtle counterpoints and perspective on the central character as do the various scenes from Turgenev that are shown. The veteran of over 60 films over two decades, Bruni Tedeschi is clearly well poised to dramatize the life of someone in the performing arts and with Actresses she has made one of the more indelible and engaging portraits of a woman engaged in this unique, and often envied, career.

Written by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Lvovsky, Agnès de Sacy. Photographed by Jeanne Lapoirie. With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Mathieu Amalric, Noémie Lvovsky (107 min. IFC Films).