Nino

It’s grande praise to note that this delicate and soulful French drama can absorb obvious comparisons with Agnès Varda’s French new wave classic Cléo from 5 to 7 without doing the cinematic equivalent of curling up into a ball and weeping in a corner. In fact, it finds its way out of that long shadow and brings its own delicate sensibility to the story of a young person facing up to their mortality over the course of a weekend in Paris.

Nino is the handiwork of first-time director Pauline Loquès, who turned out this screenplay after a career as a journalist but will deliver her next one as a César winner. The film won for Best First Feature at France’s answer to the Oscars, just recognition for a delicate, attentive character study overflowing with life-enchancing grace. 

Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin, who won best newcomer at the Césars, is Nino Clavel, a willowy 28-year-old drifting through life in the less touristy parts of Paris with an unfulfilling job, an air of benign detachment and a best mate in Sofian (William Lebghil) who’s planning a secret birthday party for him. Then a seemingly routine Friday blood test appointment in the opening minutes suddenly delivers the ultimate jolt: he has throat cancer, contracted via a long-ago STD, and needs chemo on Monday. Even if he survives the cancer, he won’t be able to have kids, so he’s packed off with a pot to bring back a sperm sample. Oh, and he’s lost his flat keys.

A delicate character study overflowing with life-enchancing grace

So, yes, it’s a film about a man needing to find somewhere to have a wank. And as weekends in Paris go, it’s not Before Sunset. And yet, in a weird way, it almost is, because Loquès unfurls a gentle story of acceptance and revelation that wants to lift you up rather than sink you into a heavy cancer drama. 

Stylistically, it’s a far cry from the loose and jazzy rhymes of Varda – Loquès’s observational lens keep a slight distance from the dazed Nino as he travels to his mum’s place in the suburbs, his ex’s to warn her of the impact of his HPV, and then to his mate’s for that untimely party. Along the way, he bumps into an old school friend, Zoé (Salomé Dewaels), a single mum who will help him navigate his feelings about fatherhood.

But like Varda and her star Corinne Marchand, Nino is steeped in care and sympathy for its title character. The nature of his cancer becomes almost symbolic of Nino’s inability to share the news with his loved ones, but when he finally finds his voice, it’s pure uplift.

Spiced up with some wry wit, cool music moments (Foals, Fontaines DC), a memorable cameo from Mathieu Amalric, and a touching-sexy use of Anaïs Nin erotica, this one’s a real keeper. 

In UK and Ireland cinemas now.