'A Woman's Life' Review: Character Study of Middle-Aged Doctor Embraces Complication

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet's "A Woman's Life," which premiered in the Main Competition of the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, begins with an extreme closeup of a woman in the throes of passion, though it's hard to tell any details other than the shine of her skin in this particular light. It's up to the rest of the film to fill in those details, which is essentially what "A Woman's Life" ("La Vie d'une Femme") sets out to do, one chapter at a time. Those chapters are quite literal: The film is broken into segments, each with its own title: "Alter Ego," . . .