LOVE AFFAIR(S)

OPENING FILM • Available for rental: Friday, June 18, 2021 @ Noon PDT → Monday, June 21 @ Noon PDT

MEET THE DIRECTOR!
Join our Zoom Discussion with director EMMANUEL MOURET, on Saturday, June 19 @ 10:00am PDT.
If you purchase the film or the Virtual Festival Pass, you will receive the Zoom invitation. Questions about the discussion? Email kelstob@csus.edu.

Suggested short film pairing: A Unique Opportunity

Vacationing in the French countryside, Daphné (Camélia Jordana, Some Like It Veiled – Audience Prize, SFFF 2018, and more recently The ABCs of Love – French Film Friday Series 2021), three months pregnant, finds herself alone to welcome Maxime (Neils Schneider, An Impossible Love – SFFF 2019), her boyfriend’s broken-hearted cousin. François, her boyfriend (Vincent Macaigne, C’est La Vie – MiniFest 2018), had to leave in a hurry for Paris to cover for a sick colleague. For four days, while they await his return, Daphné and Maxime get to know each other, passing the time sharing intimate stories about their present and past love affairs, and get dangerously close in the process.

Told mostly in flashback, Emmanuel Mouret’s film is structured as a series of stories within stories. We follow a collection of nine idealistic characters whose actions often contradict the way they see and talk about themselves and who find it hard to live up to their own moral standards. Love Affair(s) is filled with infidelity, lies, and deceit. Yet, there’s no villain. Love is messy.

This enchanting film was nominated for 14 César Awards. It only won one, which went to Émilie Dequenne (Not My Type – SFFF 2014, Rosetta) for her standout supporting performance as Francois’ self-sacrificing ex-wife whose character may be the only one who is truly honest with herself.

Not Rated (all audiences).

Original Title: Les Choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait.

Reviews

An astonishingly subtle choral film.
Thierry Chèze – Ouest France

Intelligence of the dialogues, delicacy of the interpretation: a wildly romantic story!
Claire Picard – Télé Loisirs

A delightful fantasy.
Françoise Delbecq – Elle

“Love Affairs” still manages to end in an unexpected way that feels just right — unwilling to settle on a tidy outcome, and open to the possibilities of what could happen next.
IndieWire – Kate Erbland