Venus Beauty Institute

Set in and around a Parisian day salon, this ensemble film could easily have been the French STEEL MAGNOLIAS: shallow, sassy fluff about feisty single women and their man troubles. But in the capable hands of actress-turned-writer/director Tonie Marshall, it's a beautifully acted slice of intersecting lives defined and driven by the business of beauty. The professionally cheerful Nadine (Bulle Ogier), whose spine of steel is only slightly softened by her bubble-gum pink suits, owns Venus Beauty, which is staffed by aestheticians Angele (Nathalie Baye), Samantha (Mathilde Seigner) and Marie (Audrey Tautou). The spa's clients bare more than their sallow complexions a...