An English teacher in a high school in Lyon, Joan (India Hair) is no longer in love with Victor (Vivent Macaigne), a French teacher. She hasn’t met anyone and he has nothing to do with it; he showers her with attention. But that’s how it is, she’s no longer in love… While she confides in her friend Alice (Camille Cottin), she reassures her. It’s normal in a couple. Passion fades and gives birth to something else… Besides, Alice is not in love with Éric (Grégoire Ludig), but is very happy in her relationship. Except that Éric is living a secret passion with Rebecca (Sarah Forestier), the third friend of the group…
Unable to bear not feeling anything for Victor anymore, Joan decides to leave him. His sudden disappearance causes a cascade of consequences on the love lives of the three friends…
The contemporary Marivaux
Back at the Mostra fourteen years after presenting, out of competition, his first major film, the irresistible A kiss pleasethis is the first time that Emmanuel Mouret has been in competition at a major festival. In the meantime, the French filmmaker has made a name for himself among audiences with his sensitive love dramas. Consider Miss de Joncquières with Cécile de France in 2018, at the Things we say, Things we do in 2020 (which won Émilie Dequenne the César for best supporting actress) or Chronicle of a passing affair with Sandrine Kiberlain in 2022.
Emmanuel Mouret, the director who offers you “a relationship based only on pleasure”
With Three friendsMouret continues his exploration of romantic torments, definitively establishing himself as the contemporary Marivaux. We can’t say that we are surprised when watching his new film. It’s certain, we are with Mouret. And yet, his little music is still just as delicious.
Light and serious comedy
Three friends is a musical film, based on a succession of chiseled dialogues, which come to life thanks to selected actors and a consummate sense of rhythm. Mouret composes his film as a sentimental comedy full of lightness. In particular by the use of the irresistible voice-over of Vincent Macaigne, who introduces and comments on the story we are witnessing, revealing its mechanics to us at times.
“A kiss please”: Virginie and Valentin
But behind the sparkling side of the film, staged with great fluidity, Emmanuel Mouret digs deep into the idea of the couple. With, at the center, this time, the question of knowing if we can really be on an equal footing in love. And why, even when we try to preserve the other, we end up making him unhappy…
Lies, misunderstanding, clumsiness, tenderness, desire, cruelty… Three friends takes us on a new waltz of feelings that Emmanuel Mouret has the secret of. We are certainly close to the caricature of a certain French cinema, but when it is done with such mastery, we ask for more!
Three friends Comedy drama Of Emmanuel Mouret Scenario Emmanuel Mouret and Carmen Leroi Photography Laurent Desmet Musique Benjamin Esdraffo Montage Martial Salomon With Camille Cottin, Sara Forestier, India Hair, Vincent Macaigne, Damien Bonnard, Grégoire Ludig, Éric Caravaca… Duration 1h57
