‘Think Good’ Review: French Canadian Thesp Monia Chokri Convinces as a Jewish Wife Trapped in a Toxic Relationship

The contemporary Franco-Belgian cinema certainly does not lack for films about toxic relationships and domestic abuse, with Xavier Legrand’s “Custody” and Valérie Donizelli’s “Just The Two of Us” among the recent best. An impressively shot, tension-filled drama about a woman trying to escape from an abusive, controlling husband, featuring strong performances by French-Canadian thesps Monia Chokri and Nils Schneider, French writer-helmer Géraldine Nakache’s “Think Good” is pretty textbook as these things go. But it gains an extra piquancy from being centered on a modern Orthodox Jewish couple, with select religious rituals and rules impacting the drama and the visuals. Fest and boutique distributors should think good about this title, which unspools in this year’s non-competitive Cannes Premiere sidebar.

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Parisians Gil (Chokri, president of this year’s Camera d’Or jury at Cannes), a camera assistant on film shoots, and Jacques (Nils Schneider), a businessman, meet in Dubai where he sweeps her off her feet with his intense love-bombing. When she becomes pregnant, she considers an abortion, but he talks her into marriage, despite the fact they barely know each other. 

Both sides of the couple are Jewish, although Gil enjoys her religion without much ritual or public observance. For Jacques, however, rigid adherence to the outward rules of his faith are important, yet in an early tell of his pathological side, he cautions Gil not to mention her pregnancy to their Rabbi (Daniel Cohen) or the operator of the mikvah where she must immerse herself before their wedding.

Shot in Scope, filled with intimate closeups of the couple, the film lets the audience experience the same upsetting jolt as Gil over Jacques’ desire for control and toxic possessiveness. He constantly belittles her very normal desires such as wanting to return to work, saying it would make her a bad wife and a bad mother. If she argues with him, he accuses her of creating drama and being selfish. He doesn’t like to be around her friends or her family — and he doesn’t like her to spend time with them either. He always inquires suspiciously about her ex, about where she has been and who she has talked to. Sometimes he is aggressive and sometimes passive-aggressive. The threat of physical violence lurks in the air. 

As the film moves backwards and forwards in time, we witness more and more disturbing incidents. One of the hardest to watch, for its sheer mental cruelty, takes place at the hospital after Gil gives birth to their daughter Thais. Gil’s excited parents Annah (Clémentine Célarie) and Alain (Christian Benedetti) arrive along with her friends Agnes (Mina Kavani) and Ibrahim (Oussama Kheddam) to congratulate her. Jacques blocks them from entering the room, saying that Gil needs her rest. Annah’s resulting anguish is so uncomfortable for the others, that Ibrahim and Jacques practically come to blows.

After the baby is born, Jacques moves them to an isolated spot in the countryside, making it difficult for Gil, who doesn’t drive. Not content with a baby monitor in the nursery, he installs them all over the house. When Gil objects, knowing that he wants to spy on her, he calls her unreasonable. With its wood and glass, the modern house looks open and comfortable, but for Gil it feels like a prison. DP Sylvestre Vannorenberghe provides continual visual reinforcement of her feelings, such as when she wants to go out, but sees Jacques lurking on their garden swing like a giant spider.

Nakache, here helming her fourth feature, grew up in an Algerian Jewish family and makes her characters’ religion more than mere window-dressing for the story. In a cheering late development that provides momentary relief from the tension between the couple, another encounter with the sympathetic Dubai rabbi offers some wise direction for the unhappy Gil. 

For the record, Nakache is the sister of director Olivier Nakache, who has his own 2026 feature (co-directed with Eric Toledano) boasting Jewish characters called “Just An Illusion.” The title comes from Gil’s mother’s not particularly helpful advice, “If you think good, good things will come.”