Emmanuel Mouret is surely one of the most scrutinized French directors, especially since the resounding success of Mademoiselle de Joncquières in 2018 and The things we say, the things we do in 2020. Presented at the last Cannes Film Festival (but out of competition) Chronicle of a temporary liaison met with promising critical reception.
Charlotte and Simon have just started an affair. Charlotte (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a single mother. Still young, beautiful, radiant, she expressed her desire to him simply, frankly. Simon (Vincent Macaigne), he is married. Clumsy, complicated, he hesitated before taking the plunge, but quickly gave in. From now on the current is going wonderfully, the two will be the perfect lovers: between them, they swear, it will be nothing but pleasure, without projection into the future, above all without complication. Obviously, from the title we know that the affair will be temporary: the question, the suspense itself, is entirely in the evolution of the relationship that we follow in a chronicle step by step, month after month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkX0nVp9BcA
Emmanuel Mouret has no equal in showing this passing time, through fragments of shared life, which gradually make the characters evolve. Here a walk in the countryside, there a game of badminton, there again a scene in bed after love… And the skilfully chosen music (from Javanese by Juliette Gréco to Handel via Mozart and… Ravi Shankar) come as a scansion between each period. The gestures, attitudes, faces of Sandrine Kiberlain and Vincent Macaigne, excellent, betray this evolution a little more each time. The other actors, Georgia Scalliet in the lead, are disturbingly accurate.
Throughout, Mouret delicately films the agreement, the tenderness, the sensuality of the extramarital relationship. But also speech. Charlotte and Simon admit that they enjoy talking as much as making love. And that’s true. We talk, we talk a lot in this film: about each other’s tastes, about life, about their relationship. Of “passion”, a word she abhors, because it is displayed far too often as an obligation, she says. Guilt, which Simon says he no longer has because he has managed to split his person in two: I have two selves, he says in substance, and two distinct relationships, one with my wife and one with you.
Chronicle of a temporary liaison is a delicious and brilliant romantic fantasy in the spirit of the 18th century – which made the success of Mademoiselle de Joncquières – who flirts with Truffaut – we think of Claude Jade and Jean-Pierre Léaud in stolen kisses – and especially with Rohmer, in his endless dialogues on daily life. A very good Cannes wine
Gender : Drama, Romance
Director: Emmanuel Mouret
Actors: Sandrine Kiberlain, Vincent Macaigne, Georgia Scalliet
Country : France
Duration : 1h40
Exit : September 14, 2022
Distributer : Distribution Pyramid
Summary: A single mother and a married man become lovers. Committed to seeing each other only for fun and not experiencing any feelings of love, they are increasingly surprised by their complicity…