Along Came Love Review
Katell Quillévéré’s fourth feature, Along Came Love, a poetic period drama set in post-war , finally hit UK screens this past Friday, after an anticipatory two-year wait following the film’s initial release at Cannes back in 2023. A quintessential examination of love beyond societal convention, the film explores the safety and sacrifice which encomes the tender sentiment that “the right person is the one you can trust completely.”
Set against the windswept shores of Brittany, 1947, single-mother Madeline is a waitress to provide for herself and her young son, Daniel, who was conceived during a brief love affair with a German soldier – a fact unknown to young Daniel. Madeline is introduced to the bashful and adoring postgraduate François at their local beach, as he rescues Daniel from being caught up in the harsh sea. Shared champagne and stolen conversations under starlight catalyse the intimate and dynamic romance between Madeline and François, who swiftly fall in love and marry, with Daniel as their sole unwilling witness.
At the turn of the 1960s, François’s apartment is burnt down by an alleged ex-lover who François deems a “man,” and the Delambre family flee to Paris, starting anew, and taking charge of an American GI’s bar. It’s in this rowdy, neon-lit masquerade that Madeline and François meet the charming Jimmy Wade, the Black American serviceman who becomes an object of sexual desire for the married couple, and a narrative dead-end for the audience.
With the birth of their daughter Jeanne (and the pathologically forgotten Daniel), the family move once more, and François’s job as a University lecturer affords the Delambre’s to engage in a bourgeois lifestyle which ultimately bores Madeline. The fourteen–year–long marriage between the film’s two protagonists ultimately reaches its breaking point, as François’s affair with a male student is revealed, and he is arrested on of his homosexuality.
Episodic in structure, Along Came Love charters the tumultuous progression of the Delambre family through poetic dialogue, vivid cinematography and period detailing in production and costume – the strength of such is demonstrated during the film’s second act, as the family arrive at the GI bar. Intimate scenes are tasteful and delicate, and narrative loose ends (of which there are many) are easily forgiven thanks to the strength of performances across the ensemble, notably Madeline and François, portrayed by Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste. Long-time screen partners, Demoustier and Lacoste create an understated and magnetic chemistry through bowed heads and soft smiles, their love for one another as Madeline and François transcends verbal understanding – a single glance between the two actors conveying the mutual trust which acts as the foundation of their romantic relationship.
Although Along Came Love suffers from too many undeveloped subplots, it is an undeniably beautiful film, which owes its success to the power of its performers, who transform Quillévéré’s poignant screenplay into a moving and heart-rendering cinematic tapestry of secrets, shame and sacrifice.
★★★ 1/2
In UK Cinemas now / Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Morgan Bailey, Hélios Karyo, Josse Capet, Paul Beaurepaire, Margot Ringard Oldra / Dir. Katell Quillévéré / Curzon Film / 15
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