Une Nuit, the fourth feature film directed by Alex Lutz, was screened at the closing of the Un Certain Regard selection at the Cannes Film Festival 2023, ahead of its theatrical release on July 5. After Le talent de mes amis (2015) and Guy (2018), the French director and actor returns with this romance co-written with Karin Viard and Hadrien Bichet. The film airs this Tuesday, January 23, at 9:10pm on Canal+.
The film depicts the chance meeting of Aymeric and Nathalie, two strangers played by Alex Lutz and Karin Viard, on a crowded subway train. After an argument, they end up having an intimate experience in a photo booth. As they prepare to part, they wonder if they shouldn't spend the night together.
At first glance, this is a puzzling film. In the space of one night, these two complete strangers live the equivalent of a lifetime, and we enjoy watching them. The principle is original, and for a while, it works! This story of express love is touchingly pretty, and the exchanges between the two actors are a ping-pong match, often very well written and funny. Children, family, sex, adventures, age, every subject comes up, and both seem to be at a decisive point in their own lives, which the outcome of this evening will change forever.
That's why they make it last, each knowing it's best to leave the other, but none of them can bring themselves to do so... so some form of artificiality has to be created to push the night on. And even if the process is adorable most of the time, it still ends up running on empty, especially when it becomes difficult to find pretexts to continue the moment. The temporality of events isn't always coherent, and the staging ends up repeating itself...
It's above all the principle of this enchanted interlude that appeals to us. It's a journey worth taking with Aymeric and Nathalie, two superb characters, each cracked in their own way.
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