Love Affair(s)

Daphne, who is pregnant, hosts her husband's cousin Maxime for a few days. The two do not know each other and talk continuously for four days: about who they loved, who they betrayed, what they did knowingly. Every relationship described is shown in flashback and the stories nest inside each other. Emmanuel Mouret wrote and directed. Camelia Jordana plays Daphne, Niels Schneider plays Maxime, Vincent Macaigne plays Francois. The film is built entirely on conversation, moving forward by passing from inside one story into another. Mouret's interest is not moral judgement but honesty: the characters neither hide what they did nor try to justify it, they simply tell it. The telling is close to the classical French literary tradition, using the nested narration of eighteenth-century novels directly. It received thirteen Cesar nominations. Who it is for: viewers who like talking films and French relationship stories. Who it is not for: anyone looking for incident; the film barely goes outdoors.