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Regular Lovers (2004)

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From Time Out London

The sharp, dark, deep-eyed features of Louis Garrel set against the ructions of Paris, May 1968, will already be familiar to viewers of Bertolucci’s ‘The Dreamers’. Here, his father Philippe, an old hand of the New Wave, puts him somewhat closer to the action, at least in the first hour of this protracted paean to adolescent revolution and young adulthood. It’s clearly an intensely personal project for the director, who was 20 himself in ’68 (and shooting the riot police in 35mm) and has also cast his father Maurice and the music of his partner Nico. Formally, it’s a relatively sober affair given the ferment of the time: crisp long takes of luminous, well-measured monochrome compositions are accompanied by sparse piano airs, while the occasional blank frame, visible sprocket-hole or snatch of dialogue to camera adds a Nouvelle Vague-ish sense of cinematic tactility.

The opening chapter takes to the barricades, with Molotov cocktails, flights from cops and rooftop hide-outs, though Garrell’s technique engenders little actual tension: pitched battles are tableaux rather than action scenes; instant myth. Then François (Garrel fils) takes up with a group of vaguely revolutionary artists ensconced in a pseudo-Maghrebi ménage at the mansion of well-heeled Antoine (Julien Lucas). Here, François composes poems, smokes opium and falls in love with Lilie (Clotilde Hesme, memorably equivocal). Attention vacillates between the couple and the group at a languorous pace, the characters’ more outré pretensions verging on self-parody as they make their choices about adult life. ‘Morning is Italian,’ Lilie sighs, ‘night is German.’ How far you’re willing to indulge them is probably a matter of taste.

Author: Ben Walters

Time Out London Issue 1864: July 19-26 2006

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