In a hospital in Lyon, in December 2006, a young doctor, Pierre, tries to find words of consolation for Shauna, whose best friend is dying.
Fifteen years later, following a conference in Dublin, Georges, the son of Mathilde and also a friend and colleague of Pierre, brings him to Shauna’s house. A retired architect, she splits her time between Ireland and Paris. Between Pierre and her, the connection is immediate. She is charmed by this doctor so dedicated to his patients, but she reasons with herself: she is almost 71 years old, and he is 45.
The Young Lovers was supposed to be a film by Solveig Anspach (Hauts les cœurs, Lulu femme nue, L’Effet aquatique), but her death in 2015 at 54 years old prevented her from directing this script inspired by her mother’s life. She had made her co-writer Agnès de Sacy promise that the film would exist, directed by a woman. Carine Tardieu (La Tête de maman, Ôtez-moi d’un doute) was approached and partially rewrote the story to bring it more light, more humor, which, mixed with a certain gravity, are the trademark of the two directors.
With The Young Lovers, she delivers a romantic comedy of immense delicacy, one that resonates with the emotions of the characters, endowed with rare depth. An uncommon age difference (which seems so commonplace when the man is older) lies at the heart of the story, yet it touches on the universal by addressing the lack of self-confidence and the disbelief in the possibility of being loved.
Far from the bold heroines she has often portrayed, Fanny Ardant embodies a flamboyant woman with a heart-wrenching restraint, who treads lightly through life. With gentle intensity, Melvil Poupaud moves as a married man slow to recognize the passion within him, but who then fully embraces it without fearing society’s gaze.
He suffers, however, from the pain he inflicts on his wife, initially scathingly ironic about this unexpected love before she understands its significance (Cécile de France, remarkable in her blend of strength and vulnerability). Florence Loiret Caille takes on the charming role of Shauna’s daughter, an interpreter of Solveig Anspach’s tenderness for her mother.
