Regular Lovers (DVD)

Winner of numerous international awards and garnering universal acclaim worldwide, Philippe Garrel’s Regular Lovers (Les Amants réguliers) is a rapturous paean to France’s near-revolution of May ’68 and its aftermath. Shooting in lustrous black and white, Garrel and legendary cinematographer William Lubtchansky capture the era’s ambiance with an opulent intimacy that suggests an apocryphal French New Wave opus, while sparring overtly with Bernardo Bertolucci's controversialThe Dreamers. Leading a young cast who look and act uncannily period-perfect, the director’s son Louis Garrel (The Dreamers, Dans Paris, Ma Mère) confirms himself as one of the hottest new French performers of the moment. Garrel the younger plays François, a student-slash-poet grappling with the tumult—and the doomed romance—of the infamous Parisian riots. After the movement implodes, everyday reality hits with a crash: François is hauled in for draft-dodging, falls in love with aloof sculptor Lilie (Clotilde Hesme), while the well-heeled Antoine can only pass the opium pipe. Regular Lovers is a stunning re-imagining of a misunderstood “golden” age, painstakingly crafted with a combination of bitter nostalgia and an austere yet romantic vision of Paris by night and day.