In the middle of the night, someone brings Ivan's body home to his wife and his young son. Flashbacks reveal the relationships among Ivan and his brother Alex, a cop with a cleanliness fetish; siblings Juliette and Jimmy, Ivan's partners in a seedy nightclub; the love triangle of Alex, Juliette, and Marie, a professor of philosophy; and of Alex and his nephew, Ivan's dour, stoic son. Ivan's death changes every relationship.
Acting
Daniel Auteuil's twitchy, repressed cop is masterclass
Direction
Téchiné's fragmented timeline mirrors emotional chaos
Cinematography
Nightclub scenes pulse with sickly neon intimacy
Director
André Téchiné
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Catherine Deneuve and Daniel Auteuil had previously starred together in Téchiné's 'Ma Saison Préférée' (1993), making this their second round of repressed longing.
The film belongs to 1990s French cinema's obsession with 'la famille décomposée'—the decaying family unit as microcosm of social collapse. Téchiné was practically the genre's patron saint.
FR
