AllMovie

Camille Claudel director Bruno Nuytten brings us a tale of the kind of l'amour fou that only the French can do so persistently. A moody, intense drama that opens with a present day car crash, Passionnement is told partially as an extended flashback centering on events that took place around Bastille Day ten years earlier. On the island of Porquerolles, Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) spies on Bernard (Gerard Lanvin), a man who has returned to France after living in Brazil for some years. The two had once been lovers, and Alice's obsession with Bernard -- which apparently didn't wane during their time apart -- sets in motion a string of events culminating with the aforementioned car crash. Dysfunction abounds.