Longtime festival favorite and Frameline Award-winning director François Ozon has always had a way with his female characters. His latest film, Hideaway, ups the ante with headstrong, decidedly unsympathetic mom-to-be Mousse, who alternately draws in and pushes away the gay brother of her late lover. Following the tragic overdose of her lover Louis, heroin addict Mousse (Isabelle Carré) wakes up in a Parisian hospital to discover that she’s pregnant — a fact not at all welcomed by Louis’ estranged mother. When confronted at Louis’ funeral, Mousse assures his family that she’ll abort the child. Jump ahead several months, as Louis’ brother Paul (stunningly beautiful French pop star Louis-Ronan Choisy) comes looking for Mousse at her solitary seaside retreat, only to discover that — to his surprise and delight — she’s still pregnant (Carré was actually pregnant during shooting). But Paul’s affair with an attractive man from town strains the new family he’s trying to create. Paul and Mousse’s relationship grows ever more complicated as they keep us guessing. Will they end up friends or enemies? Hideaway explores the intricacies of family history — and shows how love can transcend labels, boundaries and bloodlines.

Ozon returns with another stellar effort, mining the subtle pleasures that have characterized his work since 5x2 (2004) and its exquisite follow-up, A Time to Leave (Frameline30). Elegantly scripted and beautifully acted, Hideaway is a lean, intimate film that packs a quietly powerful punch.