Il faut aller voir l'œuvre pour la juger

When you're in the habit of presenting your work at the Cannes Film Festival, it's hardly surprising that it ends up in the «films d'auteur» category. A label that fits Arnaud Desplechin's work rather well, even if it is somewhat reductive. With feature films such as Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle), Ester Kahn, Un conte de Noël and La Sentinelle, the director has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to explore different styles and registers. With Roubaix, une lumière, although faithful to certain themes, he tries his hand at the genre of poetic realism, not without a certain virtuosity.