Pierre and Manon make documentary films together. They aren’t well-off financially, but that doesn't seem to bother them. One day, while researching for their next film, Pierre meets and sleeps with Elisabeth, a young woman who works at the film archive. Still in love with his wife, he now finds himself in two relationships. Shot in black and white, French master Philippe GARREL clings to his usual framework of a man in a complicated romantic love triangle. The topic hardly seems like new territory, but GARREL deftly manages to depict the characters’ different perspectives in a realistic and even remarkably comical way—made all the more notable because such humor is rarely seen in his work. In the Shadow of Women is a straightforward portrait of unfaithful husbands, their mindset, possessiveness, ego, and all the sexual politics related to their actions. The film, which brought both retrospection and laughter to the audience at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes, will come as a special surprise to fans of the director. (RHEE Soue-won)