In this accomplished début feature, Cyril Gelblat weaves together the lives of three different generations of a French-Jewish family, each contending with family relationships at a critical juncture in their lives. Judith (a touching performance by Miou-Miou) is a divorced housewife who, as she enters middle age, feels she is losing both her mother, Frida, a Holocaust survivor whose memory is fading, and her son, who is flying the nest. Judith's brother, Simon (Charles Berling), is a successful political pundit, but his mother's increasing confusion and his daughter's budding sexuality escape his grasp. Through deft glimpses of lives that feel very real, Cycles explores how cultural heritage is transmitted, but also shifts and changes. A searching film of many levels, it keeps a light touch and manages to be both complex and heart-warming. This exceptional dramatic comedy about life's passages and family dynamics over time is set in Paris and features an all-star cast. All are excellent, but a special word is in order for Shulamit Adar, who, as Frida, wordlessly conveys the mercurial nature of ageing and, metaphorically, the fragility of cultural heritage.