The Lovers on the Bridge

Official selection

Travel/Road MovieLove/RomanceMusic/DanceArt/Artist

In his third feature film, Leos Carax reunites the legendary couple from Bad Blood (1986) to present a spectacular modern melodrama. Juliette Binoche plays a painter losing her sight, and Denis Lavant plays a street performer. The incredible performance of Juliette Binoche, in the role of a woman gradually sinking into darkness while falling passionately in love with a man who has nothing, captivates the audience at once. She embodies tenderness, violence, despair, and innocence with her entire being, delivering yet another legendary performance. The role of the wild yet pure Michèle is still considered one of Juliette Binoche′s signature works. Paris is another protagonist in this film. The lovers roam throughout the city as it celebrates the bicentennial of the French Revolution, and director Leos Carax fills the screen with fantastical scenes that are impossible to look away from. A sky bursting with fireworks, a dance on the Pont Neuf, a frantic race through the metro, and water skiing across the Seine River—every image in The Lovers on the Bridge overwhelms us, grandiose yet lyrical, like a poem dedicated to a mad love.

Programme note by SEO Seunghee