This is Stephen Frears latest and it is a delightful masterpiece, different from most of his gritty present-day England films (which I have loved ever since "My Beautiful Laundrette"), Based on two stories by french writer Colette, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer,whom i hadn't seen in ages, and Rupert Friend as her young lover, with Kathy Bates in a great role as his mom. it was a period piece that came alive through excellent direction, realization in sound and color, and Frears's expert hand. The theme, of course is those tragic romantic one that "it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" and "all of a man's life is a woman but only some of a woman's life is a man." Loved it!!!