Colours of Time

Four cousins go to Normandy to clear out an abandoned family house. The photographs and letters they find take them back to 1895 and to Adele Vermillard, a woman who left rural Normandy for Paris to look for her mother. The film runs the two times together; as the cousins piece her journey back together they learn something about themselves. Among the people Adele meets in Paris are a painter and a photographer, and real figures of the period appear as well, including Claude Monet, Victor Hugo and Sarah Bernhardt. Cedric Klapisch directed. Suzanne Lindon plays Adele, with Vincent Macaigne, Julia Piaton and Zinedine Soualem as the present-day cousins. It is a French and Belgian co-production and was released on 22 May 2025. Shooting ran from April to June 2024, using Calvados and Eure in Normandy along with Val-d'Oise, including Monet's house at Giverny and a heritage train running between Paris and Le Havre. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 96 percent. It sold 911,000 admissions in France and took 8.9 million dollars worldwide. Who it is for: viewers who like family stories across two periods and careful reconstruction. Who it is not for: anyone who will find the past strand over-decorated with famous names. The film puts the celebrities of the era in Adele's path one after another.