Alain, in his forties, runs a famous publishing house where he publishes novels by his friend Lรฉonard, a bohemian writer. Alain’s wife, Sรฉlรฉna, is the star of a popular TV series and Valรฉrie, Leonard’s partner, valiantly assists a politician. Although they have been longtime friends, Alain is about to reject Lรฉonard’s new manuscript… The relationships between the two couples, more intertwined than they appear, are about to become complicated.
An Olivier Assayas film is always an event. Especially when it brings together such a prestigious cast as Canet, Binoche, Greggory, or Macaigne.
Once again, the filmmaker delves into a reflection as profound as it is sarcastic on the world of artistic creation. It quickly becomes apparent during the film that the subject concerns cinema as well, in a context where modes of art consumption are undergoing significant changes, with the explosion of the Internet. The actors derive palpable pleasure from playing these writers, actors, or publishers.
Irony surfaces in every scene, as if Olivier Assayas aims to settle scores with this small, closed world of artistic bourgeoisie.
The love stories accompanying this pamphlet-like narrative on the state of art in France are ultimately just a pretext to criticize and denounce the self-centered elitism of a certain category of renowned artists. The filmmaker redeems the argument by offering a necessarily ironic perspective on a society that, while pondering the stakes of artistic creation, likely ignores the rest of the surrounding world.
