My King
French writer-director Maïwenn Le Besco weaves echoes from her own relationship history into this emotionally raw drama, chronicling a tempestuous 10-year marriage between sassy lawyer Tony (Emmanuelle Bercot) and charismatic restaurateur Georgio (Vincent Cassel). With Parisian chic, this crash-and-burn love story puts a contemporary spin on classic French cinema ingredients, enhanced by explosive performances, especially from Bercot, who won a Best Actress prize at Cannes.
Vincent Cassel, Emmanuelle Bercot, Louis Garrel
- Notes From Bryan FogelThis film reminded me of what it’s like to be in love with the wrong person. The toxic and all-consuming love. Vincent Cassel is an exceptional actor. The story captures the euphoric highs and lows of loving someone who is both magnetic and destructive. I think any artist can relate. It’s also so vulnerable and self-doubting, and the cinematography so intimate, that you feel as if Cassel is breaking the fourth wall. I truly connected to the film’s ability to humanize flawed, ambiguous characters and its exploration of manipulation and power dynamics within relationships. Such authenticity.
- Notes From Taylor RussellThis is a beautiful, visceral, toxic love story by the French-Algerian director Maïwenn. The film is like a punch and then it all falls down: You see how love dissolves and falls apart. While you’re watching it, you wonder why we put ourselves in these situations that are so painful and dig deeper into them instead of getting out. You make a commitment to somebody, getting married or having a baby, and then you’re bound with them for such a long time. Somebody who ends up perhaps causing you so much pain, like in this film. You see the story through the lens of Tony going through physical rehabilitation, which is tied to her past emotionally. It’s a smart assessment of how our physical embodiment is always linked to something mental, or something from the past that hasn’t been resolved yet. So it’s beautiful and heartbreaking and I admire Maïwenn as a director. She is just very in tune and emotionally aware. It’s a film that I recommend to people—if you want a crazy, sexy, heartbreaking love story that’s very tasteful and French, then watch this one.
