Who were the women? I watched and I never felt I knew anything about the three women only a fragment about war France and a slice of French society. Rose, scorned rejected and frustrated her identity was stolen or in the end uncredited for because the imposter played herself, a poorer yet caring woman with some education and need to feel free from street life and the unwanted impoverishing advances of prostitution. Rose, callous and without connection or understanding the motives became from cruel to perpetrator to victim with financial gain. All that she had intended, when travelling to "get from" the old woman, to enter her life with prearranged motives, invitation or letter to a place other than where she once was in Switzerland with her father. Financial gain and hope for a marriage in society. The older woman, with money, who is she? Lonely? Strong? Unkind or vain? Did she prefer the other Rose, the place with her she felt flattered was she believed her heart making decisions not her head. Like Elegy the film, Who do we see when we feel attracted or flattered? Can we see an Other or a place that is shared not simply what we want to see?

A woman stuck in poverty and without family is at risk at any time. In 1914 there wasn't much opportunity for a woman to change her circumstances. From being a servant, a streetwalker and a fatherless child, a young woman takes the opportunity to join the red cross in 1914 during the war. She works hard in the field, a place of unimagined horrors but, one night everything changes as she sees an opportunity to change her life.

Although very pretty, I found the young woman in question to be acted just a bit too woodenly. Granted, in her situation one might be constantly treading on eggshells, but without her pretty face this would have been a leaden performance, when it might have been so much more.

The situation is one of terrible suffering on the part of both young women and in the end a wrong is righted.

Enjoyable viewing could have been a 10, loved the premise, this type of role switching is always fascinating. A good movie nonetheless.

The subject of the impostor who wants to enter a milieu that is not his or hers is not new :think William Irish 's " I married a dead man" , Boileau-Narcejac' s "les louves",Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrar "or Daphné Du Maurier's "the scapegoat "......By and large the screenplay does not compare favorably with the above-mentioned works and features a predictable bland denouement.

It is a mixed bag : the atmosphere of the gloomy days of WW1 is well rendered ; Sabine Azéma is like a good wine : she becomes better as years go by;here she really makes the best of a cardboard part , making her eyes longing for someone to love ; ditto for Maud Wyler (no relation to the great director) whose accusing finger she puts at her usurper in the best scene of the movie gives gooseflesh ; to be denied your identity is the worst thing that can happen to you and I -who,in the screenwriter's mind apparently- should be supposed to support the destitute child , actually side with the dismissed educated girl ;it's her treatment which is unbearable ,try to be in her shoes !And the best moments belong to her!

On the other hand ,Lyna Khoudra 's inexpressive performance does not win me over ; her character is hardly believable ; the scene where she reads the chapters of "les misérables" when Jean Valjean passes himself off as respectable Monsieur Madeleine is too contrived .That a poor girl can become a go -getter to cope with a ruthless society makes sense; but that an uneducated girl turns overnight into a lit connaisseur less so ....

A curate's egg !Not bad but not great either.....