Once in a while an unlikely combination of style and substance that sounds impossible comes together to work to perfection on the screen. In the hands of writer-director Coline Serreau (Three Men and a Cradle) Chaos, the absorbing and by turns comedic thriller, lays bare the humiliating life of forced prostitution in the brutal Paris underworld of crime. Serreau then layers and merges it seamlessly with biting satire about modern alienation among middlebrow folk. Bourgeois couple Hélène and Paul race through their days going about urgent but unimportant tasks. Barely taking the time to even look at each other, Paul also cannot find time to see his mother (Line Renaud) when she comes to Paris for a visit, ducking her by pretending he is not at home. Their 20-something son, Fabrice, is a chip off the old block, and like his father, is self-absorbed and amusingly incompetent at the simplest household chores. Hélène indulges their whims and joins in the frenzied pace.

As Paul and Hélène speed off to an engagement in their car, they encounter a frantic streetwalker fleeing from three thugs. As she begs for help, Paul locks the car doors and ignores her pleas as she is savagely beaten and left for dead. The next day, guilt ridden, Hélène searches the hospital for the girl, and thus Hélène's life is spun into chaos. Part black comedy, part social satire and part fast-paced thriller, at its core is the rebirth and change that comes when things are unexpectedly thrown into upheaval.

In a coma from the beating, Noémie (Rachida Brakni) is literally rescued by the constant attention and nursing of the unknown woman at her bedside. The cops on the case of the assault are after bigger fish and hope to bust the network through finding the pimps who beat Noémie. When the assailants show up at the hospital, recognized only by Helene, her instinctive protective reactions propel her into metamorphosis. Exhibiting a remarkable range, newcomer Brakni, is outstanding as she transforms and moves center stage with Hélène. Bit by bit she reveals her story of enslavement and plan for sweet revenge.

At age 15, Malika brazenly ran away from her father en route back to her native Algiers, where she was to be sold as a wife to a businessman. On the streets, scared and alone, she was soon picked up by network pimp, Touki, and renamed Noémie. The methodical, fierce "schooling" she received at the hands of the network and her rise to a top money-maker unfolds with precise economy, never letting the thread of the cliffhanger drama weaken. The daily horror and fear she lived under motivated her to devise a bold, unpredictable course. Actions and expressions capture the subtleties of Noémie's impenetrable mindset as she plots liberation.

Meanwhile Paul is undergoing his own transformation and a hilarious subplot involving Fabrice and his girlfriends send another social message delineating the self-centered conceit of bourgeois middle class life. The visual style drenches the scenes in saturated color punctuating the underlying motif. A creamy golden glow penetrates the insulated home of Paul and Helene, the icy blue tones of the hospital ward signal the coolness of Noémie's detachment, and the ghostly green that illuminates Mamie's sad face all lend their own voice to the tale. Without a weak performance in the lot, Catherine Frot as Helene shines as a modest woman who finds fearless strength. Irresistible and insightful, "Chaos" neither preaches nor contrives, but rather resonates with the undiluted reflection of truth.