A FAITHFUL MAN: Practically Parisian In Every Way

The sophomore feature from actor and filmmaker Louis Garrel, A Faithful Man is a fizzy little French romance about three people who end up entangled with each other following a family tragedy. Co-written by Garrel with the legendary French writer Jean-Claude Carrière (responsible for scripting Belle de Jour, The Tin Drum, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and countless other classics), the film feels like a throwback to the relationship comedies of the French New Wave in style and yet manages to be pleasantly modern in outlook.

Amour Fou

Abel (Garrel) is living with his lover from university, Marianne (Laetitia Casta, who also happens to be Garrel’s real-life wife), when she abruptly breaks the news that she is pregnant with the baby of Abel’s best friend, Paul. Marianne informs Abel of this life-changing development as he is on his way out for the day, piling disappointment on top of disappointment as though she were merely adding items to a grocery list. From learning that Marianne and Paul are getting married at the end of the month to discovering that he needs to find a new place to live as the apartment belongs to Marianne, the news makes Abel’s head spin with confusion more than it actually angers him. It’s no wonder, then, that as he stumbles out the door under the weight of this news he falls and smashes his nose, the blood running down his face finally bringing his inner turmoil to the surface.

This entire opening sequence has the pace of a classic screwball comedy and the painful awkwardness of early Woody Allen at his best and perfectly sets up the audience for the rest of the pleasures that A Faithful Man has to offer. Nine years after Marianne and Abel’s paths diverged with the announcement of her pregnancy, the two are reunited after Paul passes away from a heart attack in his sleep. Meeting at the funeral, Abel is immediately smitten again with his former lover and sets out to reignite their old romance – indeed, he doesn’t even wait for Paul’s body to grow cold in the ground.

However, despite Paul being out of the picture, there are two new obstacles standing in the way of Abel and Marianne’s happiness. One is Marianne and Paul’s young son, Joseph (Joseph Engel), a murder-mystery nut who firmly believes that his mother poisoned his father. The other is Eve (Lily-Rose Depp), Paul’s younger sister who has harbored an obsessive crush on Abel for her entire girlhood and now, as a young woman, will stop at nothing to finally make him hers. Between Joseph warning Abel that his mother is a murderer, and Eve warning Marianne that there will be war if she doesn’t give up Abel, there is no shortage of conflict – or comedy – in A Faithful Man’s central love triangle.

Paris, Je T’aime

Once Eve challenges Marianne for Abel, Marianne decides that the only way to get the girl out of their lives is for Abel to sleep with Eve. That way, the younger girl will get her obsession with him out of her system – after all, how much longer can she fantasize about making love with him after they finally do the deed? Abel is shocked and offended at Marianne’s suggestion and yet decides to go through with it as a much-delayed bit of revenge for Marianne leaving him for Paul so many years ago. But even though Abel seems to be the one who makes the decision to sleep with Eve, it is clear that it is Marianne who is pulling all of the strings in the scenario. Indeed, that Marianne is the one who holds the power in their relationship is obvious both the first and second time around. Not only that, both she and Eve own their sexuality and their desires throughout the film and make no apologies for it to Abel or anyone else. This is key in making A Faithful Man feel refreshing and modern despite its obvious resemblances to the vintage romances of the French New Wave. This includes the film’s portrayal of bustling, bubbling Paris as the capital city of romantic adventure, as lovingly photographed by cinematographer Irina Lubtchansky.

The film’s trio of leads – all of whom share voiceover duty throughout the film – are all ridiculously attractive in the most seductively French way possible, making it all too easy to understand their casual embrace of polyamory (once again, so French). Most films gamble when they lay on even one voiceover, yet A Faithful Man pulls off three with aplomb, shifting back and forth between the internal monologues and machinations of each of its three central characters with ease, allowing the audience to be far more aware of what is going on than any of them (with the exception of perhaps Marianne).

Garrel is an absolute charmer in the lead role of Abel; his performance renders it believable that Eve would spend her entire girlhood obsessed with such a handsome yet hapless goofball. Casta is marvelous in the complicated role of Marianne, a woman who has lived and loved in the way that she and she alone thought best. By far the most mature character in the movie — with an important job working as a communications officer in French parliament to boot — Casta makes Marianne feel utterly believable despite some of her oddball life choices.

Yet the real revelation in this movie is the breakout performance of Lily-Rose Depp as the wily, romantic Eve. Her obsession with Abel, while intensely over-the-top to the point of being borderline frightening, will be keenly felt by anyone who has ever harbored long-term unrequited love (or lust) as a teenager. Depp’s incredible beauty and natural screen presence might have been at least partially inherited from her famous parents, but the talent on display in A Faithful Man is uniquely her own and announces her as a bright new star in French cinema.

A Faithful Man: Conclusion

A Faithful Man is a charming farce that only the French could pull off, a frothy film menage a trois that combines all of the best elements of vintage romances with a thoroughly modern take on gender roles. From the beautiful setting of Paris to the beautiful people in the cast, it is impossible to not find joy in it.

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