07/07/2025 - Nathan Ambrosioni delivers a subtle and poignant film carried by an excellent Camille Cottin, about a voluntary disappearance and its impact on the people left behind

"Sometimes we love one other but don’t take the time to say it." Once again, a family story is at the heart of French director Nathan Ambrosioni’s filmography in Out of Love [+see also:
interview: Nathan Ambrosioni
film profile], a sensitive and moving film unveiled in competition at the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which confirms the astonishing emotional maturity of a very young filmmaker who’s already signed his name to three feature films at the age of 25, and who’s been refining his approach to storytelling and mise en scène from one movie to the next. His recipe for success? A straightforward, keenly analytical, human approach kicked off by a shocking event.

"Why has she left the children with me? What am I supposed to do? Wait for her? Look for her? Call the cops?" It’s the 10th of July and 42-year-old Suzanne (a perfect Camille Cottin) who lives alone (since she separated from her long-term partner, played by Monia Chokri) and who’s wholly absorbed by her job as a claims adjustor, is totally blind-sided. But she needs to pull herself together ASAP: her younger sister Jeanne (Juliette Armanet), who turned up unannounced at her place the night before, has now disappeared into thin air since the early hours of the morning, leaving nothing but a letter together with her two sleeping children: 9-year-old Gaspard (Manoâ Varvat) and his little sister Margot (Nina Birman).

Suzanne finds herself plunged into a world of unknowns: where is Jeanne (who’d been a widower for some years, in a precarious situation)? Why has she taken off like this? When will she return? How is she going to look after her sister’s children (having never wanted children herself)? These vital questions draw her into an incredibly personal investigation revolving around her sister, their shared past, but also herself, all the while discovering the social implications of a voluntary disappearance (involving the police, the legal authorities, etc.).

By choosing a shock event as a starting point in order to study its consequences, Nathan Ambrosioni (who also wrote the screenplay) very cleverly explores the secrets and variations of this particular territory whilst maintaining a thread of suspense. Exploring motherhood, sisterhood, filiation, love, hopes, sorrows and regrets, the film brings many themes to bear by harmoniously navigating between the viewpoints of Suzanne and the children with great honesty (the characters’ emotions are poignant yet contained). It’s a delicate approach, which is enhanced by the director’s sober yet sophisticated mise en scène style (perfectly capturing the actors’ wonderfully intense expressions), foregrounded further still by Alexandre de la Baume’s glorious music. It makes for a perfect marriage between spontaneous emotion and artistic control, and represents a wonderful progression in the career of this young man and born filmmaker whose subsequent explorations we’ll eagerly await.

Out of Love was produced by Chi-Fou-Mi Productions in co-production with France 2 Cinéma and StudioCanal (with the latter also steering world sales).

(Translated from French)