“Anais in Love” is a delightful new French rom-com, written and directed by a woman (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet), which premiered at Cannes in 2021. The film does take a bit of patience. Not because its pace is slow (au contraire), but because its pace is fast. Anais (Anaïs Demoustier) is a 30-year-old who literally does not stop running, dashing from room to room indoors and peddling madly on her bicycle on the streets of Paris. She also talks and overshares incessantly, even when her listeners do not share a common language with her. She has huge problems with punctuality and commitments, as well as several other quirks, and she hurts others without seeming to care. Of course, she is also adorable, but I vowed not to fall for her. Naturally, by the close of the film, I had fallen hard, for both Anais and the film itself.

Despite the film being lovely to look at with good production values, I felt at first that I was having to endure an unlikeable lead in a genre too light and fluffy for my crusty old tastes. But then Anais does begin to experience growth and change, dramatically and profoundly. I’m a sucker for redemption, and who doesn’t need a bit of light romance in these times? The film itself deepens as its protagonist does, with allusions to literature and cinema that pleased me without being too self-referential or jarring. I found myself enchanted to see the wondrous Gena Rowlands onscreen in a John Cassavetes movie within a movie.

The catalyst for Anais’ transfiguration is Emilie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) an older woman with whom she falls head-over-heels in love. Their scenes together are beautifully acted and sumptuously shot. All in all, this is an entertaining film with intelligence that is well worth seeing.  I would like to think that very good filmmaking won me over to it, and not lesbian chauvinism or older woman pride. I urge you to see for yourself, regardless of how you identify and let me know if you agree. 

P.S. Anais in Love will be screened at Miami's OUTSHINE Film Fest, then  in US movie theaters April 29, 2022, 
On Demand May 6, 2022

 

 

Review: Janet Prolman

Janet Prolman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where her mother nicknamed her “my little queer.” She has also lived in North Carolina and New York. A lover of short stories, theater, music, and performance, she knows the lyrics to almost every song or advertising jingle she’s ever heard. Now on Cape Cod, she enjoys kayaking and frequenting Provincetown.