French Film Review: Deux Pianos

Arnaud Desplechin returns to the terrain he knows best – love, memory and music – in this romantic drama set in Lyon. François Civil plays Mathias Vogler, a pianist returning from exile to perform with his former mentor, Eléna (played with imperious authority by Charlotte Rampling), at the Auditorium de Lyon. A chance encounter with a child who looks uncannily like him unsettles his carefully managed life and draws him back to Claude, his first love, played by Nadia Tereszkiewicz. Shot largely with a handheld camera, the film unfolds as a meditation on solitude, paternity and the consolations of music.

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Starring: François Civil, Charlotte Rampling

From France Today Magazine

Lead photo credit : CR Emmanuelle Firman Why Not Productions