Filmlovers!
Filmlovers! is a 2024 docufiction drama film written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin. It stars Milo Machado-Graner, Mathieu Amalric and Françoise Lebrun. It features the character of Paul Dédalus, who appeared in Desplechin's earlier films My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument, A Christmas Tale and My Golden Days. According to Desplechin the film is meant to "celebrate movie theaters and their manifold magic".
It had its world premiere in the Special Screenings section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2024, where competed for the L'Œil d'or.
Plot
A film lover celebrates the magic of cinema. Memories, fiction and discoveries intertwine in a rapid flow of cinematic images.Production
Filmlovers! is Arnaud Desplechin's fifteenth feature film and is an essay film in homage to cinema. It features the character of Paul Dédalus, who is considered Desplechin's alter-ego and who first appeared in his film My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument and its prequels A Christmas Tale and My Golden Days. In Filmlovers!, he returns to the character's childhood, and tells the story of how he got introduced to cinema: first as a spectator, then as a cinephile, and finally a filmmaker. The film is a hybrid of documentary and fiction that incorporates archival footage of film clips and stills as well as interviews with those who accompanied Desplechin in his experiences as a spectator. Ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to Italian neorealism, from the silent era to contemporary cinema, the film is a journey through the images that shaped Desplechin's filmmaking. Desplechin wrote the film's screenplay, in collaboration with Fanny Burdino. He also cited Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans as a source of inspiration. The film was produced by Charles Gillibert at CG Cinéma. It was co-produced by Scala Films, Arte France Cinéma and Hill Valley, with the participation of French fashion house Chanel.Principal photography began on 17 July 2023 in Avion, Pas-de-Calais, where shooting took place for two days at the cinema Le Familia, which was transformed to resemble the 1960s and 1970s. Filming continued that same week in Roubaix and Tourcoing. Desplechin planned to shoot sequences in his former high school, in which a multimedia room bears his name. Filming then moved to Paris.
Release
The film was selected to be screened in the Special Screenings section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 22 May 2024.International sales are handled by Les Films du Losange, who also distributed the film in France on 15 January 2025.