The Truth review: Together, Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche are a gift to watch

While the naturally magnetic Deneuve demands attention, Binoche reverberates with quiet distress in the background

Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Ludivine Sagnier, Clementine Grenier, Manon Clavel. PG, 107 mins

In some hazy, autumn-coloured Parisian quarter sits a well-fashioned manor house. Its white shutters are partially obscured by prying greenery. Down in the garden, Catherine Deneuve’s Fabienne perambulates while rehearsing her lines. She’s an actor. The uniform feels right: a silk kimono with a slate-grey trench layered on top. Later, we see her in a leopard-print coat.

This is exactly how we’d expect Deneuve to look off the screen – with a gentle wave of hair and sharp, arched eyebrows. The star sits atop an untouchable pedestal of French cinematic culture, her face immortalised in films such as Umbrellas of Cherbourg or Belle de Jour. The Truth is not a portrait of Deneuve’s private world (by any means), but it still feels like we’ve been made privy to some piece of tantalising gossip when Fabienne scoffs at the mention of Brigitte Bardot’s name.