Le Temps d'aimer

Zwei Personen, welche die Gesellschaft abgelehnt hat, starke Motive ihres bewegten Schicksals und eine fade Umsetzung. Narben auf der Seele vertiefen die gegenseitige Toleranz und Liebe. Die Vergangenheit und die höhere Macht werden Sie aber immer einholen. Und die Erlösung besteht darin, dies zu akzeptieren. Ein gut gespieltes Drama mit einer funktionierenden Dramaturgie und einer schönen Architektur der Küste der Normandie. Es reicht aber, wenn man den Film im Fernsehen sieht. [Cannes FF] (22.05.2023)

The best and strongest moment of this film is its black and white opening. After the Second World War in France, women who’d had anything to do with the Germans (collaborators, lovers, informers, or workers) were publicly lynched: painted with swastikas, shaved bare, forced to undergo humiliating shame marches. This is how we meet the main character Madeleine, who later tries to start a new life with her young son. Years later, he meets a young rich student named François, who is also trying to make a fresh start and escape from a certain part of his life, which the film gradually reveals. Their bond and love is beautifully and delicately portrayed, but it brings nothing new. Much more interesting for me personally was the line of Madeleine's complicated and cold relationship with her son, which had a lot of potential, and it's a great shame that it wasn't handled more skillfully and in more depth, I think it would have elevated the film and set it apart from the others. The beginning of the film was very gripping and dramatic and I was very intrigued, the rest, on the other hand, was pleasant, well made, well acted, but it left an impression of incompleteness and mediocrity... [Festival de Cannes 2023] (29.05.2023)