Gilles Lellouche brings together François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos to film passion with lyricism

In addition to the first two roles, the actor and director has surrounded himself with an impressive cast for this film which ranges from romance to thriller to musical comedy.

Second feature film directed solo by Gilles Lellouche, highly anticipated after the success of Great Bath, Love phew arrives in theaters Wednesday October 16. A prolific actor, Gilles Lellouche is also starting to be a prolific actor behind the camera, if we count co-directing (with Tristan Aurouet for Narco), participation in a sketch film and several short films.

Playing on several tables – thriller, romance, comedy, musical – this ambitious film, carried by L‘one of the biggest budgets in French cinema in 2024 (35.7 million euros!) should find its audience.

Especially since Love phew brings together an exceptional cast: François Civil, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Alain Chabat, Vincent Lacoste, Benoît Poelvoorde, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Élodie Bouchez and Raphaël Quenard, to name only the best known, each working on a most subtle score.

Precocious high school lovers, the studious Jackie (Mallory Wanecque) and the dilettante Clotaire (Malik Frikah) who introduced her to his underworld world, met in the early 1980s in a port town in the north of France. Many years pass, and after a long stay in prison, Clotaire (played this time by François Civil) is determined to win back his love (Adèle Exarchopoulos) at all costs, even though she is married to a wealthy young entrepreneur ( Vincent Lacoste).

Gilles Lellouche finds with François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos his playing partners of North Bac, as well as his co-writer accomplice of Great BathAhmed Hamidi, for a lively film that takes us from start to finish. Well paced, Love phew would, however, have deserved to be a little more concise, even if the film makes up for this drawback with incisive dialogues, and beautiful moments of musical comedy orchestrated by the dance collective La Horde.

Moving flexibly from one genre to another, this “epic” romance of great lyricism, which covers around twenty years, goes off the beaten track. Its heterogeneity is only apparent, and love is its common thread. If we are caught up in the action and the feelings, there remains the strange impression, due to its prestigious casting, of seeing more of the actors and less of their characters. But originality, talent and enthusiasm make the flow flow.

Gender : Musical romance
Director : Gilles Lellouche
Actors: François Civil, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Mallory Wanecque
Country : Belgic/France
Duration : 2h46
Exit : October 16, 2024
Distributer : StudioCanal
Synopsis: Jackie and Clotaire grew up between the high school benches and the port docks. She studies, he hangs out. And then their destinies intersect and it’s mad love. Life will try to separate them, but nothing works, these two are like the two ventricles of the same heart…