30-year-old Louis decides to leave Mathilde, the mother of his child, for Claudia, the woman he is madly in love with. Louis and Claudia are theatre actors. While Louis gets one offer of work after another, Claudia who was once a rising star is not cast in a single role. The insecure and miserable Claudia does love Louis, but is gripped by fear of losing him. One night she meets an architect who offers to help her. Louis loves Claudia immensely, but it is he now that feels paralysing fear of losing her. Charlotte, Louis’ young daughter, is a silent witness to this chaotic situation.
»The idea that underpins this film is that my son Louis plays his grandfather at 30 – the same age as Louis today – even though it is set in the present day. It tells of my father's love affair with a woman – and by admiring her I unwittingly made my exemplary mother jealous. And I was a child being raised by my mother (in the film, I am the little girl).« (Philippe Garrel)
Philippe Garrel
Born in 1948 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Garrel made numerous shorts during his youth. A child of the Nouvelle Vague, he continued his path with Marie for Memory, his debut feature. In 1982 Garrel was awarded the Jean Vigo Prize for L’enfant secret. One of the highlights of his oeuvre, I Don't Hear the Guitar Anymore won the Silver Lion in Venice, an award he received a second time for Regular Lovers in 2005.
filmography (selection)
1967 Marie pour mémoire (Marie for Memory)
1968 Le révélateur
1970 La cicatrice intérieure (The Inner Scar)
1979 L'enfant secret
1988 Les baisers de secours (Emergency Kisses)
1990 J'entends plus la guitare (I Don't Hear the Guitar Anymore)
1993 La naissance de l'amour (The Birth of Love)
1995 Le coeur fantôme (The Phantom Heart)
2001 Sauvage innocence (Wild Innocence)
2004 Les amants réguliers (Regular Lovers)
2005 La frontière de l'aube (Frontier of the Dawn)
2011 Un été brûlant (That Summer)
2013 La jalousie (Jealousy)