ONLY WHAT WE CARRY

(director/writer: Jamie Adams; cinematographer: Neema Sadeghi; editor: Cecile Laperge; music: Chris Hyson, Julien Durand; cast: Simon Pegg (Julian Johns), Sofia Boutella (Charlotte Levant), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Josephine Chabrol), Lizzy McAlpine (Jacqueline), Quentin Tarantino (John Percy), Liam Hellmann (Vincent); Runtime: 92; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Jouri Smit, Charles Benoin, Liam Hellmann; Atlas Pictures; 2026-France/UK-in French & English)

“Flat improv drama about making human connections.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Brit filmmaker Jamie Adams (“Let’s Love”/”Pose”) directs and writes this flat improv drama about making human connections. It was shot in six days with six characters.

The famous Moulin Rouge dancer Charlotte Levant (Sofia Boutella) returns to Normandy and her hometown of Deauville with her older sister Josephine (Charlotte Gainsbourg) to reconnect with her former instructor and choreographer, the smug successful 50something Julian Johns (Simon Pegg). He’s staying in an empty seaside hotel owned by the wealthy married publisher John Percy (Quentin Tarantino) so he can write his memoir. Also there are Jacqueline (Lizzy McAlpine) and her boyfriend Vincent (Liam Hellmann).

In a naturalitic manner the characters interact with emotional confrontations and bring up past resentments, while Josephine and John become sexually attracted to each other.

It seems like an experimental film whose experiment didn’t quite work. But the location photography artistically sets a catchy doleful mood. The French New Wave influences seem to apply to the filmmaking style, but the film is not as smart as it thinks it is or wants to be even if there’s something inexplicable about it that’s appealing.

It played at the Tribeca Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 7/19/2026  GRADE: C
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