Marion Cotillard has one of the most intense roles of her career in Guillaume Canet‘s pulsating French thriller Karma, premiering out of competition tonight at the Cannes Film Festival, where the star has made many appearances and has two films this year in the official selection.

In Karma, she is Jeanne, whom we meet early on as she accompanies young Mateo (Aron Ramo) on various playful outings. His parents however worry she is too close to the kid, too dependent on a relationship with their son and we soon discover the reason why. With a troubled and torturous past, a life she is trying to turn around with Mateo, as well as Daniel (Leonardo Sbaraglia) with whom she has a challenging and difficult connection despite all his efforts to make their partnership work. One day after taking Mateo to his beloved seashore, the child just vanishes sending Jeanne into a panic. Authorities investigate and Jeanne becomes a key target until she decides to vanish herself.

It isn’t long before we discover where she has gone. Jeanne returns to a place where she knows she won’t be found, a religious cult run by the commanding Marc (Denis Menochet), a place where as a child she was abused and brought up, like many of the young people living there, in strict and allegiant circumstances. She managed to escape and start a new life, but the complicated hold Marc has with her returns and he takes her back in, he hopes permanently this time as she proved to be the kind of problem he won’t stand for. She is thrown into isolation before getting the opportunity to once again assimilate, Marc is a genuine taskmaster, but a dedicated defender publicly and to the cops about the legitimacy of his operation and its residents. In other words he keeps up the facade of its legality and purpose, but behind the curtain is committing sexual assault on some of his younger flock who are sworn to secrecy and compliance. This is the world in which Jeanne lived, and lived to flee.

Meanwhile, the case of the missing Mateo continues, with Daniel increasingly concerned not just about the boy, but what has happened to Jeanne. Her past life a mystery to him, he dives into research and makes some key connections that could lead him to finding her before authorities can.

Canet wrote this movie and role specifically for her. Their cinematic pairing has delivered a true thriller in a fascinating setting with the world of cults and their hold on those most vulnerable. The Oscar-winning star gets a highly dramatic character to play here and gives Jeanne edge, empathy, and substance. Sbaraglia, who is also starring in another Cannes film this year with Almodovar’s Bitter Christmas, invests Daniel with a powerful sense of purpose and determination before it is too late. The veteran Menochet is really great as Marc, a villain to be sure but a man to whom he delivers authentic dimension, avoiding a one-note bad guy approach common in lesser thrillers of this stripe.

Unlike many of the movies on view in Cannes this week, Karma successfully navigates the line between arthouse and genuine commercial prospects. It is one to see.

Netflix participated in its production, but the film is looking for U.S. distribution.

Title: Karma
Festival: Cannes (Out of Competition)
Director: Guillaume Canet
Screenwriters: Guillaume Canet and Simon Jacquet
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aron Ramo, Denis Menochet, Luis Zahera, Marta Etura, David Talbot
Running time: 2 hr 29 mins
Sales agent: Pathe (international)