Philippe Shepherd

In this historical drama, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall announces his retirement. The White House nominates Clarence Thomas as Marshall's replacement. But Thomas's confirmation hearings are rocked by charges that he sexually harassed Anita Hill, a former assistant. As their conflict plays out in public, a White House aide runs a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit Hill.

A stripped-down account of a young man's existential reckoning. "As dust hides a mirror, lust hides the self," reads one of the film's Vedanta-sourced intertitles. And indeed, while the Pierre Clementi protagonist's inner life remains obscure, the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood that offers his temptations appears in harrowing detail.