One night at the cinema, Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) reaches out to take Anne's (Isabelle Huppert) hand. She is annoyed and rebuffs him. He feels rejected. This small moment begins the story of the...

One night at the cinema, Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) reaches out to take Anne's (Isabelle Huppert) hand. She is annoyed and rebuffs him. He feels rejected. This small moment begins the story of the disintegration of a marriage. Over the course of several years they have slowly started to grow apart. One night after a party, Anne tells Pierre that she is in love with another man. Although her admission is not surprising, Pierre's reaction is. He seems to accept this as a fact of life and refrains from asking the most burning questions. However, as Anne continues to see the "other man," Pierre becomes more violent and it begins to dawn on them that something intangible has happened which cannot be put right.