Eclectic Christophe Honore’s latest film is a charming and contemporary musical that owes as much to the great Jacques Demy as it does to Jean- Luc Godard. Les Chansons d’amour stars Honore regular Louis Garrel as Ismaël, a journalist working on a small periodical, caught up in a menage à trois with his girlfriend Julie and a girl who works at his office, Alice. It is a situation that has arisen through convenience, but works through the fun and light-heartedness of their youthful innocence. Julie knows that it is too good to last and when it does end – tragically – Ismaël is the one who finds it difficult to get himself back together.
What begins as a lighthearted sex romp with songs turns into a story about coming to terms with grief and loss. Ismaël walks the streets of Paris, has casual sexual encounters, and is unable to shift the deep emptiness that lies within him, until he meets Erwann, a young man who may be able to bring him back to life.