C'est mon homme (2023)

The young director Guillaume Bureau undertakes his first feature film, in a French-Belgian co-production, tackling a romantic drama, with a touch of intrigue, set in the years following World War

I. It is a three-way romance, with very well-drawn characters who react in a credible way, each in their own situation, all of them affected by the First World War they have suffered.

The story moves forward with a certain heaviness, but also clarity and verisimilitude. It is helped along by some successful locations, brilliant art direction and the always evocative landscapes of the French countryside captured in Colin Lévêque's cinematography.

The tone is a bit slow, but it is compensated by the performances of Leïla Bekhti, Louise Bourgoin, both sensual, and the sometimes strange presence of the amnesiac Karim Leklou.

Despite what seems to be a good acting job, it is difficult to empathize with their characters, something a priori contradictory in a story where passionate and unconditional love permeates the entire footage.

The actors, a fundamental part of the film, play their roles with solvency, but it is perhaps where the weaknesses of the script written by Guillaume Bureau, Robin Campillo and Pierre Chosson are most noticeable.

Regardless of these shortcomings, Bureau also succeeds in concentrating his film in just an hour and a half. Enough to enjoy a correct product about love, identity and the disasters of any war.

A film to prove that in today's cinema not everything has to be super-productions or expensive self-productions, but that films made with moderation and respect must also have a place.