“Love without”: this strange series that can be listened to instead of seen

Libero (Arthur Teboul) is a French teacher in Figeac, in the Lot. He invites a well-known author, Viviane (Céline Sallette) to meet his students. The moment is nice for the kids, and even more so for the two adults, who experience real love at first sight. They start sending each other text messages, after the speech in front of the class, then during a demonstration in Paris.

Libero does not decide to go any further: he is married, he tells the writer. Who in return offers him a game: to live this love forbidden by morality, “in another temporal sphere”. “It doesn’t matter who we are, you a man and I a woman, the opposite, both. There is a place in the universe where we no longer resist each other. I’m sure that somewhere in space-time we fuck, we desire each other, we laugh, we listen to Italian pop, we make love dead drunk in the back of a car. » This relationship in another space-time can only take place by SMS, email, voice message or telephone. Will the lovers succeed in this experience or will they burn their wings? And is it really a game, anyway?

The originality of this new offbeat creation from Canal Plus lies in its absence of image: the experience is more like a podcast than a cinema. The dialogues, full of literary and cinematographic references, are signed by the author Maria Pourchet (Move forward, the Impatients, Fire…). The project tells a real story, which very quickly loses its playful side and falls into the toxic, even sordid.

At the same time, it reminds us that we have rarely written as much as in our time. That we have never had so many tools to exchange. But that love and communication come through experiences in the real world. Very literary, it also takes up themes dear to the work of Maria Pourchet. A real curiosity.

Love without, Canal Plus, 11:20 p.m.