35 rhums

This outstanding film from Claire Denis demonstrates her fluency and mastery in the kind of movie-language that is rich, quietly complex and subtle. Its theme is the bond between father and daughter, whose intensity speaks poignantly and paradoxically of loss and absence. Alex Descas is Lionel, a calm and dignified widower who is a train driver in Paris. His daughter, Joséphine, played by Mati Diop, is a student who lives with him in affectionate, if rather emotionally fraught domestic intimacy. Descas and Diop give lovely performances, and their final scene together, apparently at the cusp of that event for which 35 shots are appropriate – a celebration and a farewell – is tremendously moving. A film to be savoured. (Peter Bradshaw)