The Assistant

The plot of "La volante" will be familiar to anyone who's spent time watching Lifetime movies, but predictability doesn't harm this delicious morsel of a French thriller. Nathalie Baye delivers another masterful performance as the mother of a car crash victim who's now seeking revenge against the driver and his family. She ingratiates herself into his world without his knowing her identity, slowly becoming a critical figure in his life.

Baye is great in this, expertly conveying quiet rage simmering underneath a calm exterior. It's hard not to root for her at first, especially given how much of an uninteresting schlub the man she's pursuing is! The psychological insights may be a bit shallow, as is often the case in this sort of film, but Baye's performance adds more than enough depth and interest.