Raoul Ruiz's puzzling thriller "Comedie de l'innocence" opens with an intriguing premise: the young boy Camille suddenly announces to his mother Ariane (Isabelle Huppert) that she is not his real mother, and that he would like to be taken to his true home. Ariane is not sure how to react, but she indulges the boy and takes him across town to a house he directs her to, where he embraces and is embraced by Isabella (Jeanne Balibar), who claims to be his real mother. This is a thriller set-up worthy of Hitchcock, and in its psychological dimensions and creative storytelling the film is reminiscent of Hitch in many ways. But Ruiz is also a very different director than Hitchcock, and he injects a subtle hint of surrealist humor and absurdity into the proceedings, which only makes this mystery even more unsettling. The characters seem to always be acting at some remove from human experience, especially once Ariane reluctantly invites Isabella to move in with her and her son, forming a strange trio of a son with two mothers. There are undercurrents of incest and familial strife throughout the film, and in many ways the film is a critique of modern upper-class child-rearing practices, in which responsibility and discipline are completely forsaken. The care of Camille is continually passed from one hand to the next, with his father away on business for the duration of the film and the responsibility for him passed from mother to nanny to nanny's friend, and eventually to his new usurping mother figure. Balibar and Huppert give phenomenal performances as the two women fighting a restrained battle for Camille's attention. The former is sweetly sinister with her constant smiles and lilting voice, while the latter is as cool and distant as ever. The DVD features an excellent transfer that preserves Ruiz's understated and atmospheric lighting, plus an enlightening interview with the mischievous director.