With notably Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil in the cast, the film mixes comedy, drama, genre film and more, without the necessary mastery to avoid ending up getting confused.
Adèle Exarchopoulos is Jackie in “L’Amour ouf” by Gilles Lelouche. Photo Cédric Bertrand/Trésor Films/Chi-Fou-Mi Productions/Shelter Prod/Artémis Productions/France 2 Cinéma
By Samuel Douhaire
Published on May 24, 2024 at 6:55 a.m.
En 2016, Gilles Lellouche conquered the Croisette with The Great Bath, an unstoppable feel-good movie with its struggling men finding their salvation in the practice of synchronized swimming. Six years later, the actor-director returns to the official selection through the competition with a much more ambitious and daredevil project, as much for its substantial budget (35.7 million euros) as for its aesthetic bets. .
Love phew, it is the one that unites Jacqueline, known as Jackie, and Clotaire in a small town in the north of France in the mid-1980s. Between the motherless high school student and the little thug, a simple exchange of glances was enough. But life separates those who love each other, very violently and making a lot of noise: Clotaire, after joining a gang of robbers, is sentenced to twelve years in prison for the murder committed by his boss’s son. Upon his release from prison, the young man, more flayed alive than ever (now played by François Civil), intends to recover what is owed to him… and find Jackie (Adèle Exarchopoulos), now married.
Photo Cédric Bertrand/Trésor Films/Chi-Fou-Mi Productions/Shelter Prod/Artémis Productions/France 2 Cinéma
To tell the story of this thwarted passion over nearly twenty years, Gilles Lellouche demonstrates a desire for cinema that is as sincere as it is noisy. Hyper-realistic framing, ultra-fast panoramics, visual effects rich in reflections and bizarre chromatic experiments, everything is there. But the director doesn’t want to settle for a comedy or a romantic drama. From love at first sight, we quickly move on to punches and then gunshots. Lellouche wants to do Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese (for the extreme violence of the score-settling between gangsters), John Woo (for the choreography of the fights and shootouts) and, for that matter, some Jacques Demy (in a musical comedy sequence that is incongruous to say the least). It’s a lot for a single film, even if it lasts almost three hours, especially when we don’t yet have the talent of either one or the other, and its very blue-flowered vision of love is the one of an eternal teenager.
From this endless tote and, ultimatelyexhausting, we will however save the first hour, carried by the young and formidable Mallory Wanecque (discovered at the end of 2023 in The worst) and Malik Frikha. Alain Chabat’s touching performance as a protective and complicit father. And a beautiful dialogue sequence, tender then tense, between Jackie, Clotaire and a contemptuous supermarket manager where, for once, Gilles Lellouche restrains himself from being smart with his camera – it rests…
p Love phew, by Gilles Lellouche (France, 2h46). With Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Civil, Mallory Wanecque, Malik Frikha. Competition. Released October 16, 2024.
