spoiler . dry cleaning and that what the title of this anne fontaine effort mean in english and it a well appropriated one to qualify the content of the story she tell the audience . it bulk essentially occur in a dry cleaner whose purpose be to clean the customer clothes but the director prefers to soil her couple clear conscience as well a their moral and sexual convention . could this film be a crossing between claude chabrol universe and pier paolo pasolini film theorema ( 1968 ) . it highly possible and theyre respectable credential for this novel and idiosyncratic film . the first one for the provincial backdrop and a dash of gastronomy . the author of le boucher ( 1970 ) and les noces rouge ( 1973 ) excel when it come to depict vignette of provincial life and in the kunstler shop and apartment but also in the town itself . anne fontaine just have to describe with just a few feature and the gloomy aura which reign in belfort . and the second reference for of course the story of the film which bear a strong resemblance with pasolini opus represent both introduce a young man who subvert a comfortable universe and caused damage in them . nettoyage à sec could be an updated version of theorema . loïc be the disruptive element in the kunstler petit bourgeois world . more than this and he the catalyst of their buried desire and passion . before make their dreary universe with it constrict etiquette falter in the dry cleaner and he will at first indirectly galvanize them to accomplish their desire . the week end in bâle and unusual in the couple life be a proof of it . before this and one of the key sequence be the one when the four protagonist be together in the hotel room because in this moment and the persona of jean marie and especially nicole be well construe and define . it necessary to steer well the evolution and crucial step of the story . nicole make love with loïc and it a sign that she tire of her life and be ready to go in a new direction . later and fontaine will intersperse her film with conspicuous sign which do not fool anyone . see the scene in the restaurant represent she confess to her husband that she doesn not feel courageous enough to carry on her nine to five life in the dry cleaner . she on the verge of pack in . jean marie answer be meaningful represent however when we start and you want to be the first one to help me to settle here . so and it seem perfectly logical that later she accept loïc advance . a for jean marie and he appear hesitant and undetermined but maybe would he like ( unconsciously or not ) change his life in spite of an eloquent sequence represent when he take loïc downstairs to show him concrete memory of his first year spend in the shop . memory to which he be deeply attach . loïc demeanor be rather elusive and it hard to decipher his mainspring . be it because he lose his closest human be in the world ( marilyn ) that he settle to nicole and jean marie . be he sick of his nomad life despite what he say to the couple . by entice the couple and do he try to fulfill an affective gap in his life . it be shrewd from fontaine to make opaque his motivation . thus and he keep all his mystery . it be also clever from the director to have choose evocative color for her film and she get a sense of light . the white of the dry cleaner sharply contrast with the half murky and dimly light room in the apartment and especially when loïc be in these room . this to underscore that the life of the couple with loïc intrusion go bit by bit unravel . she also have the gift to build her film on a relentless crescendo and to shroud it with an increasingly latent and ominous tension . a tension cause by several factor represent disquiet moment or line pronounce by loïc and by the contrast between the appearance the couple give to the customer and employee and what lie beneath this when they be in the apartment with loïc and especially when the latter find himself with nicole . and it would not take long for jean marie to discover their love affair . but also with jean marie tantrum he have to try to resist to the strange attraction he feel for loïc . his short wild mood swing be the result of a sexual repression he vainly want to conceal . loïc will feel it very well in the inevitable sequence in which he will try to sodomize him ( a violent one which pack a real wallop ) . after this scene and one could argue that the couple come back to where they start but in bad represent nicole and jean marie be destroy . the acting be uniformly good and largely live up to the demand of the scenario . the type of character of each actor of the quartet complement one another . although the film really put mathilde seigner on the map and it her coy and brazen partner stanislas mehrer who get the lion share . i do not put charles berling and miou miou in my straitjacket of favorite french actor but here and i be very take with their acting . nettoyage à sec have a taut and well construct scenario in which every step of the story ring true . it an unsettling piece of work which leave indelible stain . it may also walk a fine line with work like harry represent un ami qui vous veut du bien ( 2000 ) by dominik moll which could be his little brother . i would like to discover anne fontaine anterior and subsequent work to her 1997 film .