We were firmly waiting for this “Phew Love”. Because Gilles Lellouche amazed us with “Le Grand Bain” in 2018. Because he has been nurturing this project for years with a super-budget (35 million euros) and a super-cast ( Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Civil, Raphaël Quenard, Benoît Poelvoorde, Alain Chabat, Karim Leklou, Jean-Pascal Zadi…). Because, since the start of this 77th Cannes Film Festival, French filmmakers have impressed, from Jacques Audiard to Coralie Fargeat, including Agathe Riedinger.
So what does this “Phew Love”, presented this Thursday evening on the Croisette and in theaters on October 16, look like? Adapted from the novel by Irishman Neville Thompson, the film begins in the 1980s, in the north of France. Clotaire grew up among a large group of siblings, between the gentleness of his mother and the beatings of his father, a docker. Jacqueline has lived alone with her father since her mother’s death. These two meet in front of the school. They cling, then fall madly in love.
The whirlwind is followed by a tragedy. Embroiled in a robbery, Clotaire finds himself separated from “Jackie”. Ten years later, Clotaire wants to pick up the thread of their “phew love”… What is first surprising in this feature film is its form. We were told it would be a musical: only two dance scenes slip into this 2h46 punctuated by hits from the 80s (The Cure, Prince, etc.), where the actors never sing. Then that’s his point. Is “L’Amour ouf” a romantic comedy or a gangster film? Between the two, between “Before Sunrise” and “BAC Nord”, Gilles Lellouche’s heart swayed. And the filmmaker has not decided.
Kisses and scenes of beatings follow one another. The sunsets alternate with the atmosphere of thug films (Lellouche even treats us to a scene in a nightclub with bank notes, champagne and strippers). We let ourselves be carried away by the passion of the staging and the actors, moved by the intensity of Adèle Exarchopoulos, but we are bothered by the complacency of the scenario with regard to the bloodshed of its hero.
As soon as he gets upset, Clotaire hits. With a baseball bat, with his fists, with a gun. To take revenge on those who betrayed him and on the life that did not spoil him. But, worse, “for love”. The heroine repeats that she “hates violence”, she always forgives. And the scenario seems to invite the viewer to do the same thing.
“Phew Love”, romantic thriller by Gilles Lellouche. With Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Civil, Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikah… 2h46. In theaters October 16.
