Film Forum

Philippe Garrel’s typically French take on toxic masculinity places one handsome young cad amid three vulnerable women, mixes in a heady dose of narcissism and sprinkles in some de rigueur male compartmentalization. Photographed in black-and-white, THE SALT OF TEARS shares much of the sensibility of François Truffaut’s early romantic adventures starring the insufferable (and insufferably adorable) Antoine Doinel. Impulsive and rakish, Luc (played by newcomer Logann Antuofermo) is in Paris only briefly to become certified as a cabinetmaker – but long enough to ensorcel a beautiful young woman he picks up at a bus stop. Soon he’s juggling three relationships, but really only one – with his own ego.

FRANCE      2019     100 MINS.      IN FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES      DISTRIB FILMS

Virtual Cinema program supported by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation.

Reviews

“Philippe Garrel, a prodigy of the French cinema (whose work was first included in the New York Film Festival in 1970, when he was twenty-two), has developed a spare method, a self-imposed classicism of dramatic intimacy… [THE SALT OF TEARS] rises very high with its fusion of brusque candor and unspoken yearnings…feels like a revisitation of the austerities, aspirations, and humiliations of an earlier age, a return to primordial experiences and artistic ambitions… The film also happens to have one of the best dance scenes in the recent cinema.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“Could be classified as a filmic version of that French literary genre the conte… a concise but intellectually resonant narrative focusing on emotions and morals. One of the most finely turned and richly achieved of (Garrel’s) recent works.”
– Jonathan Romney, Screen International

“Fresh and invigorating.”
– Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter