Leaving

Suzanne, a comfortable bourgeois housewife, has spent twenty years in the warm orbit of her husband and two children. When she begins to consider returning to work as a physiotherapist, a chance encounter with a rugged Spanish builder stirs a thrill she thought she had buried. What starts as a discreet, all too human attraction quickly blossoms into a runaway affair that pulls her away from the familiar routines of home life. The story follows her as she negotiates security and desire, weighs the pull of new possibilities against the duties she already bears, and questions what it would mean to redefine her identity. The film stays focused on emotion and choice rather than melodrama or twists, without ever judging.

Directed by Catherine Corsini, Leaving draws from Gaëlle Macé and Emmanuèle Bernheim. Released in 2009, the drama pairs Kristin Scott Thomas with Sergi Lopez's Ivan in a tightly observed study of desire and self discovery that marked Corsini's return home.

Box office numbers are not provided in available data, but the film played mainly in art houses and festival circuits across Europe, reflecting its intimate focus and appeal to viewers drawn to adult relationships and moral ambiguity and critics alike.

Leaving is often noted for its restrained, character driven approach and for Kristin Scott Thomas's quiet intensity, which helped strengthen Catherine Corsini's standing in European cinema. The film engages with midlife desire, independence, and the tension between personal freedom and family responsibility, resonating with audiences seeking realism over melodrama globally.

Critics have described the film as a thoughtful portrait of a woman reckoning with choice and consequence. Its themes include self reinvention, the costs and rewards of romance, and the quiet courage it takes to redefine a long standing marriage in the face of social expectations without resorting to clichés.