Angele, "the saddest woman in the world", (Nathalie Baye - Day for Night) a 40 something beautician who prefers sex to love, works alongside Marie (Audrey Tatou - Da Vinci Code, Amelie), the object of an older man's seduction, in a pastel coloured beauty parlour, a veritable eden where women repel the ugliness of the world and the onset of old age with the quest for eternal beauty.

Angele's world is challenged when Antoine (Samuel Le Bihan - 3 colours: Red), a rough and ready sculptor, falls in love with her after witnessing her being dropped by a looser, another one of Angele's "flings" turned sour.

"Venus Beauty" is a wonderfully crafted, true to life and poignant romance, magically directed by Tonie Marshall.