The French, generally speaking, create on-screen atmosphere better than any other filmmaking nation. Not Here to be Loved showcases this brilliantly, presenting as it does a sequence of exquisitely shot, tension-filled scenes which tell the straight-forward story of a man and a woman who fall in love.

Jean-Claude (Patrick Chesnais) is a 50-something bailiff with about as much joie de vivre as a snail (no racial slur intended). Following the advice of his doctor, he enrolls in a tango-class where he meets the beautiful Françoise (Anne Cosigny). As soon as they have danced their first steps together, the level of chemistry between them is almost unbearable. The snag is that Françoise is engaged to struggling novelist Thierry, and adding to Jean-Claude’s woes is his invalided yet ever-critical Father, who piles salt into his already gaping wounds.

This, the simplest of love stories, is told in painstaking detail, so that moments such as a curtain-twitch or the slight movement of a hand become drenched in meaning. When the basic formula of man + woman + dance lessons = love, gets used by Hollywood, the result is usually always OTT (Shall we Dance, Strictly Ballroom, Save the Last Dance etc…). What’s so refreshing here is the exquisite use of silence and stillness.