LES DEUX AMIS

Mona, an attractive young woman with a secret that lends her an air of mystery, works at a sandwich shop in the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. Oddball Clément gets by on work as an extra. His best friend Abel is a darkly charismatic aspiring novelist suffering from writer’s block. Completely taken in by Mona’s charms, Clément asks Abel for help winning her over, but it isn’t long before Abel falls for her himself. After directing the well-received short, La règle de trois, actor Louis Garrel paired up with director Christophe Honoré to adapt Alfred de Musset’s play Les caprices de Marianne for the modern era (he actually used a scene from the play years earlier to audition for the Conservatoire). Screened as part of International Critics’ Week at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Les deux amis follows this remarkably sweet, endearing trio (played by Garrel, the radiant Golshifteh Farahani and the eccentric Vincent Macaigne) through a maelstrom of romantic chaos lightened by flashes of heartfelt humour and a playful score by Philippe Sarde.