Overview
A poignant exploration of love's complexities and the consequences of past choices.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- somber
- intimate
- quiet evening
- arthouse movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Truffaut's somber romantic drama as a compelling and emotionally powerful study of obsessive desire and doomed love.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Madame Jouve narrates Bernard and Mathilde's story as a tragedy from the outset.
Bernard and Mathilde's passionate affair from eight years earlier revives after their accidental reunion next door.
Both former lovers maintain marriages and family routines while their renewed relationship undermines those arrangements.
Friendly fronts between neighboring families coexist with the foreknowledge of a somber romantic tragedy.
Films like The Woman Next Door, and why
Brief Encounter
tragic rekindled passion, marital conflict, and emotionally restrained romantic drama
In the Mood for Love
obsessive forbidden desire and fatalistic romantic melodrama
The Bridges of Madison County
psychologically intense adultery drama centered on destructive longing
Movie Details
- Director
- François Truffaut
- Release Date
- 1981-09-30
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (351)
Cast
- Gérard Depardieu
- Fanny Ardant
- Henri Garcin
- Michèle Baumgartner
- Roger Van Hool
- Véronique Silver
- Philippe Morier-Genoud
- Nicole Vauthier
- Muriel Combe
- Olivier Becquaert
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Woman Next Door about?
- Former lovers reunited as next-door neighbors struggle against a passion that threatens both their marriages and their lives.
- What is The Woman Next Door like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Woman Next Door as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Woman Next Door violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Woman Next Door as mild.
- What did critics think of The Woman Next Door?
- Critics broadly regard Truffaut's somber romantic drama as a compelling and emotionally powerful study of obsessive desire and doomed love.
- Which films are like The Woman Next Door?
- Films with a similar feel include Brief Encounter, In the Mood for Love, and The Bridges of Madison County.
- How long is The Woman Next Door?
- The Woman Next Door runs 106 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Woman Next Door?
- In United States, The Woman Next Door streams on Criterion Channel.
