With its elliptical structure, speeches to camera, stylised montages and countless references to the cinematic past, this dazzling homage to the French capital brims with audio-visual ideas. The only trouble is, nearly all of them were first hatched during the nouvelle vague and Christophe Honoré does little to expand upon them.
However, this remains compelling, as Honoré succeeds in presenting a sensitive insight into the lonely unfathomability of depression, cutting between Romain Duris’ struggle to come to terms with being jilted by girlfriend Joana Preiss, and brother Louis Garrel’s footloose flirtations with a trio of lovers. Duris and Preiss’ telephone song is a touching moment of pure inspiration.