(director/writer: Arnaud Desplechin; screenwriters:
Kamen Kelkovsky; cinematographer: Paul Gullhaume; editor: Laurence Briaud; music: Gregoire Hetzel; cast:
François Civil (Mathias Vogler), Nadia Tereszkiewicz (Claude), Charlotte Rampling (Elena Auden), Hippolyte Girardot (Max), Valentin Picard (Simon), Jeremy Lewin (Pierre Solai), Anne Kessler (Anna), Alba Gaïa Bellugi (Judith, Pierre’s younger sister), Marianne Pommier (Rosa); Runtime: 115; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Pascal Caucheteux; Kino Lorber; 2025-France-in French)

“Confusing and uneven melodrama.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin (“Film Lovers”/”Brother and Sister”) directs this rather confusing and uneven melodrama about an anxiety-ridden musician trying to find his footing. Desplechin co-writes it with Kamen Velkovsky.

A former piano prodigy, Mathias (François Civil), living in Japan for the last few years, returns to his French hometown to do a concert with his former mentor Elena (Charlotte Rampling). Mathias is filled with creative doubt and anxiety over his troubled love life.

Mathias is in Lyon where his former girlfriend Claude (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) lives with her artist husband Pierre (Jeremy Lewin) and their son Simon (Valentin Picard). When Mathias
spots Claude getting into a building elevator he collapses from shock. Both Mathias and the couple  are going to the same party.

Later on, Mathias will stalk a young boy in the park, who looks like him when he was a child.


Mathias is secretly an alcoholic, who is questioning his entire existence, and his ability to pursue his musical genius.

Mathias’ mother (Marianne Pommier) and his agent Max (Hippolyte Girardot) offer support for the beleaguered Mathias.

The tortured artist gets his life examined in this twisted drama, that has good performances but can barely spit out what it’s trying to say about finding emotional stability. 

It played at the Toronto Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 6/13/2026  GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com