Three Parisian sisters are estranged by the socially crippling criminal action of their father only to subsequently learn things are not quite what they seem.

Glamourpuss mother-of-two Sophie (Béart) discovers her photographer husband is having an affair... and kicks him out when his consummate dishonesty becomes all too apparent.

The world of younger sister Anne (Viard) is thrown out of orbit when her married lover - a philosophy professor at the Sorbonne - gives her the elbow.

Finally, Celine (Gillain) - the most demure and sexually innocent of the trio - finds herself the unwanted focus of attention of a gauche yet good-looking stranger.

Mysteriously, it is he that holds the key to the three girls' afflicted past and his confession will right their warped perspective on an unbearable history.

Bosnian director Danis Tanovic, who made the superb No Man's Land, cleverly weaves the increasingly desperate emotional trajectories of the three sisters into a thriller-come-drama.

We slowly learn the terrible secret from the past that defines them and how their misinterpretation of those events had coloured their lives ever since.

A very human story, all three sisters are played with skill by the three leads and Carole Bouquet lends proceedings a chilling turn as their emotionally absent mother.

This marks the second of the Heaven, Hell and Purgatory trilogy written by Polish film-maker Krzysztof Kieslowski before his death. (Tom Tykwer shot the first - Heaven - with Cate Blanchett in 2002).

It's certainly not without its flaws - comedic moments seem shoed-in as an afterthought - but it is never less than compelling.

One Hell some people might find Heaven.

Tim Evans