The Witnesses

With direction by Techine, and featuring Johan Libereau in his physical prime, The Witnesses is quite hot in spots and tragic without becoming a cliché.

Not without flaws and never anything special, but generally well handled. To its credit it avoids the kind of sensationalism and sentimentality that can really harm films like this.

"A moral tale that isn't saddled with moralism, The Witnesses is a novelistic film in the best sense." - Bill Weber

The Witnesses is a period-piece but feels utterly contemporary through its characters' urgent, overlapping imperatives.