Overview

• Launching in French theaters on August 20, the film arrives after a tumultuous Cannes premiere that drew sharply divided early reactions.
• Le Nouvel Obs recasts the work as denser and more intimate than Titane, pointing to a move toward psychoanalytic, personal material.
• The narrative frames an adolescent’s bond with a drug-addicted uncle who appears returned from the dead as a fantastical fable.
• Tahar Rahim’s emaciated portrayal of the uncle is singled out as a standout performance, with a family-meal sequence cited as a high point.
• Critics note narrative excess and occasional self-entanglement but emphasize a sustaining generosity of tone and AIDS-era resonances.