After earning the Palme d’Or with his romantic drama Blue is the Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche returned last fall to the Venice Film Festival with Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno. Following sexy young people in France doing sexy things–at least if this trailer is any indication–it still doesn’t have distribution in the U.S., but it will arrive in France later this month.
Despite most reactions swaying towards mixed-negative after its premiere, if you’re looking for a different take, Film Comment said, “You wince at the camera’s undisguised lechery, but the sheer exuberance knocks you over. Mektoub, My Love is perhaps the most unrestrained contribution yet to the long-running cycle of French art films about young people and what they did on their holidays: it’s like Adieu Philippine meets Girls Gone Wild.”
Check out the trailer below.
Amin, an aspiring screenwriter living in Paris, returns home for the summer, to a fishing village in the South of France. It is a time of reconnecting with his family and his childhood friends. Together with his cousin Tony and his best friend Ophélie, he spends his time between the Tunisian restaurant run by his parents, the local bars and the beaches frequented by girls on holiday. Enchanted by the many female characters who surround him, Amin remains in awe of these summer sirens while his dionysiac cousin throws himself into their carnal delights with euphoria. Armed with his camera and guided by the bright simmer light of the Mediterranean coast, Amin pursues his philosophical quest while gathering inspiration for his screenplays. When it comes to love, only Mektoub (‘destiny in Arabic’) can decide. This coming-of-age saga set in 1994 casts a nostalgic glow on the wonders of youth.
Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno arrives in France on March 21 and is seeking U.S. distribution.