Jacques Maillot
France 2003 35mm 89min. french o.v.

Rachel is a 23-three-year-old woman who lives alone with her 14-month-old daughter. She has a job and leads a seemingly quiet, ordinary life. Claire is a policewoman who lives with her boyfriend. They long to have a child but somehow are unable to. Two women whose paths may never have crossed. It's summer and the daycare centre is closed. Rachel leaves her daughter behind and heads south for a vacation. When the child is found dead from dehydration in Rachel's apartment, Claire is put in charge of the case. She interrogates people who knew the young woman and struggles to overcome the horror she feels as she tries to understand what happened. But is it possible to put all the pieces together? With consummate direction and a brilliant performance by Sarah Grappin as Rachel, Froid comme l’éte is a gripping and psychological drama about human frailty and desire.