Dir. Michaël Dacheux, 2018, 83 min.
With Paul Delbreil, Adèle Csech, Samuel Fasse
In French with English subtitles

With this sensitive debut feature, Michaël Dacheux puts a fresh spin on the stylistic and thematic tropes of the French New Wave and its immediate descendants, filming the lives and loves of young people on the streets of Paris much like his predecessors did, but updating his approach to include queer desire.

The story begins when 25-year-old Martin arrives from the provinces to try to reunite with his first love Léa in Paris. Léa tells him she is not prepared to get back together and the two go their separate ways, facing the difficulties of realizing their dreams in the big city. In following this classic Balzac theme of provincials in the capital, Dacheux takes an affectionate, delicate view of their respective trajectories, showing Léa blossom as an artist and Martin falling in love with a man.

While the film acknowledges filmmaker Jean Eustache as its patron saint with a visit to his Paris street and the warm, witty presence of his actress Françoise Lebrun playing herself, the influence of the great Eric Rohmer is felt in the narrative’s four-season structure and its off-the-beaten-path view of contemporary Paris.

Part of the 2018 ACID Cannes program.

“In his moving first feature film, Michaël Dacheux draws the portrait of a boy and a girl who, after breaking up, learn to discover their own desires. “ — Libération