No Love Lost

Étienne (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is just twenty years old when he falls in love with Valérie. A wild, passionate love affair ensues, and a short time later their daughter Rosa is born. But Valérie leaves her husband and child. Étienne decides to skip the drama despite all the hurt and instead builds a happy life with little Rosa. Sixteen and a half years later, when father and daughter (Céleste Brunnquell) finally separate to lead their own lives, the past catches up with them again... “The central conflict is, of course, the absence of the mother and the fact that the father only pretends to be over this event. When he thinks he recognizes Valérie in a television report about waves in Portugal, old wounds are reopened - while the score soars to the highest heights.” The French director's style is reminiscent of a mixture of the anarchistic playfulness and spontaneity of the Nouvelle Vague and the neurotic naivety of Michel Gondry. [...] But the characters are secondary anyway: Erwan Le Duc has made a movie that constantly changes registers. Slapstick (how many footballers can fit in a car?) follows drama and music video follows sketch. It's unpredictable, wonderfully expressive and, above all, non-psychologizing. Oh, if only more films would transform their stories into such stirring, dancing and touching images.” (Sebastian Seidler, on: kino-zeit.de)