Cycling with Molière

Why would Serge Tanneur (Fabrice Luchini), an actor at the height of his fame, walk away from the stage and settle alone on an island off the Atlantic coast? Three years later Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson), a well-liked TV actor, crosses over to offer him a part in Molière's The Misanthrope. Philippe Le Guay stages their five days of rehearsal as a contest of wills, with a hotel maid and an Italian divorcée drifting into the scenes.