Aline Issermann's "Shades of Doubt" ("L'Ombre du Doute"), a French film about a wrenching family crisis, is set forth with remarkable restraint. The subject is incest, but the story's potential for tawdriness is never exploited. Instead, Ms. Issermann presents a discreet, methodical account of how 12-year-old Alexandrine comes to bring and then recant charges against her father, Jean.

The mother of three children seems to become romantically involved with the man playing Don Juan in the same local countryside theatre where she is acting. The children decide to try to poison the man who is threatening their family life. The real life and the stage roles get intertwined...