Monsieur Hire is a story of profound love.

Lonely, middle-aged tailor Monsieur Hire (Michel Blanc) compulsively peeps out his apartment window into the apartment of the pretty blonde Alice (Sandrine Bonnaire) across the way. She finds out and seems to find it a little exciting. But this opening doesn't give a clue where this spellbinding story of passion and betrayal is headed.

Meanwhile, someone has murdered a young girl and dumped her body in the park near where Hire lives. The detective has his eye on Hire, perhaps because Hire is considered a weirdo in the neighborhood. He doesn't like other people and they don't like him (except, oddly, at the bowling alley).

The story centers around the emerging relationship between Hire and Alice as they meet and get to know each other. Complicating things is the fact that she is engaged to be married to someone else. The motives behind their words and actions are not clear at first and even seem contradictory.

Plot points are doled out slowly at first and the early part of the film requires patience. But towards the end, as a clear picture emerges of what is actually happening, the movie builds to a nail-biting conclusion and as intensely emotional a finish as I've ever seen.

The final slow-motion coda put a lump in my throat. If you care about stories of profound love, you should see this.