Les Chansons dAmour

aka Love Songs, Christophe Honore, 2007

Star Review

This is a marvellous contemporary musical set in Paris from French writer/director Christophe Honoré, who, as in his previous film, Dans Paris, has used jaunty nouvelle vague influences as a springboard for his own film, which here focuses on the intertwined love lives of three young people: Ismaël (played by Honore’s regular on-screen presence Louis Garrel), Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) and Alice (Clotilde Hesme). The obvious comparison here is Jaques Demy’s 1964 musical film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Dans Paris even employs the same three chapter structure – Departure, Absence and Return – as this earlier film. In most other respects though, this is a radically different world to the bright and bittersweet innocence of the earlier film.
The young cast use their natural singing voices to deliver vibrant performances, and with its great score, this low-budget movie has already become a cult hit. And what better way to celebrate the newly-found ‘entente amicale’ than indulging yourself with some songs of love!

on 2nd April 2008
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Film Description

A fully-fledged contemporary musical that takes in the lives of three lovers living in Paris. The cast which includes standout singing performances from Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni and Clotilde Hesme add a depth and resonance to their performances.

Christophe Honoré has up again teamed up again with Louis Garrel for their third collaboration and it seems Louis Garrel has become Honoré's onscreen alter ego. As in Dans Paris, Honoré has refined his New Wave influences, this time from the later period of the movement with films such as Truffaut's Domicile Conjugal and Jean Eustache's La Maman et la Putain.