A Few Hours of Springs

COMING SOON: Stephane Brize's A Few Hours of Spring (France, 2012) - The relationship between a stubborn, uncommunicative ex-con and his just-as-obstinate, terminally ill mother is explored to understated effect in "A Few Hours of Spring." Gallic helmer Stephane Brize's follow-up to his breakout hit, "Mademoiselle Chambon," is again all about what's left unsaid, an m.o. that's better suited to the film's first half, before the minutiae of the mother's assisted suicide are portrayed in such dispassionate detail that it forces the characters' emotional lives onto the backburner. Surface similarities to Michael Haneke's French-language Palme d'Or winner, "Amour," could help savvy boutique distribs drum up interest in this downer title. 2012TOR.