My King

Maïwenn's fourth feature, telling the decade of a single relationship in fragments. Tony is a lawyer in a rehabilitation centre after a bad skiing accident. As she teaches her knee to walk again, her mind goes back to her marriage to Georgio, a charming, inexhaustible and destructive restaurateur. The film interleaves present-day physiotherapy with the past relationship, so the body's recovery and the exit from the marriage advance together. Emmanuelle Bercot plays Tony and Vincent Cassel plays Georgio, with Louis Garrel and Maïwenn's sister Isild Le Besco in support. Bercot shared the Best Actress prize at Cannes in 2015 with Rooney Mara for Carol. She was at that same festival as a director too: the opening film, Standing Tall, was hers. Who it is for: viewers who want an emotionally punishing relationship film and one of Cassel's riskiest performances. Who it is not for: anyone who wants distance. The camera sits on faces, the fights run long, and the film refuses to convict Georgio cheaply.