Nathalie Baye's beautiful performance is the soul of this flawed but affecting film. While Gerard Depardieu is excellent as the soldier who appears in a 16th century French village claiming to be one of its residents who left years earlier, it is Baye's portrayal of the wife of the long vanished Martin which gives the film its power. Deeply moving, and able to speak volumes with a simple gesture or her enormously expressive eyes... great performance.