Le Lit

In this somber movie, Martin (Heinz Bennent), a sculptor, is dying in his bed on a barge that floats along a fog-shrouded waterway. As he agonizingly descends into a final oblivion, his second wife is at his bedside, comforted by his first wife -- also present. Director and writer Marion Hansel stands at a slight remove while the last day in the life of the moribund man, with all its pain, is interspersed with flashbacks to happier times with his second wife. Some of the dialogue is oddly artificial and when combined with the space that the director places between the viewer and the events on the screen, it may distance some from the suffering of the lead figures.