Jérôme (Olivier Gourmet) has just lost his job as senior executive in a chain store and is determined to start his own business despite the concerns of wife Laura (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi). Their 11-year-old son Ugo, a promising tennis player, hopes to get accepted to the national training centre at Roland-Garros. With its genesis in a news story, this astutely observed film
focuses on the father-son relationship. Counterpointing his son’s journey, Jérôme’s distress is existential, the world of tennis acting as a microcosm. Father and son are very close emotionally yet unable to really understand each other. Meanwhile off-camera the gaps between Jérôme and his wife are insidiously widening. (MPR)

Venice International Film Critics Week, 2014

Director’s Note: Produced by the Dardenne brothers, 40-Love is an impressive debut of sparse, dry realism from director Stéphane Demoustier.

Showing as part of the Carte Noire IFI French Film Festival 2014 (November 19th – 30th).