The straightforward yet absorbing tale of a well-to-do housewife who falls for a bit of rough, Leaving is one of those films we are always told that "the French do so well". Well, c'est vrai.

After devoting the last fifteen years to her doctor husband Samuel (Attal) and their children, Suzanne (Scott Thomas) is looking forward to setting herself up as a physiotherapist at their home in the Languedoc hills.

The trouble begins when Catalan builder Ivan (Lopez) arrives to start work on her office. Their initially benign relationship turns serious when her giddiness lands him in hospital. Feeling guilty, she volunteers to drive him to Spain to visit his young daughter.

The ensuing affair is passionate and intense. Unable to think of anything or anyone else, Suzanne gives Samuel the bad news.

But although he takes it no more badly than any other man in the same situation, the repercussions become increasingly severe when Suzanne moves out.

It's not long before matters of the heart give way to less romantic matters of the purse. Samuel contributes to their predicament by cutting her off financially and using his connections to prevent Ivan from getting work.

As an ex-con, Ivan must tread carefully. But Suzanne, angry and a touch naive, is determined to take what she believes is rightfully hers from the marriage.

Thoroughly watchable but too lean for its own good, this is a drama that needs to find its masculine side.

Lopez, so evil in Pan's Labyrinth, and Attal (Munich, The Serpent) are reliable performers but as written, Ivan's magnetism isn't readily apparent and Samuel doesn't convince as the sort of man who would wilfully spend the rest of his life with a woman who no longer loves him.

But this is Scott Thomas' show. As usual, she's brilliant, perfectly capturing Suzanne's gradual slide from girlish excitement and apprehension to resignation, humiliation and despair.

It's a consummate performance from one of the finest actors of any gender of any generation in any language. You'd be happy to see her in any affair.

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Elliott Noble