Surprising as it may seem, Cédric Klapisch has presented a film at the Cannes Film Festival for the first time in his 30 years of career. Colours of Time [+lee también:
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It all begins at the Orangerie, in front of the Water Lilies, the unwitting stage for a little contemporary pop masquerade, a photo shoot for a clothing brand where they plan to change the colours of the monumental work in post-production to enhance those of the dresses. From the outset, the French filmmaker's mischievous tone is evident, as he doesn't hesitate to use archetypes to sketch his era, flirting with cliché but with such sincerity that it delights rather than annoys. While we wait to meet up with Claude Monet, the story takes us to meet the (very) many descendants (including our young photographer, played by Abraham Wapler) of Adèle Meunier (Suzanne Lindon), a young woman born in 1873, who have come together over a question of inheritance around a dilapidated house where a few photos are yellowing and a strange painting is gathering dust. While a delegation of cousins (including Abraham Wapler, Julia Piaton, Vincent Macaigne and Zinedine Soualem) is appointed to begin talks with the town council, which wants to buy the land to build an eco-parking site, we travel back in time with Adèle, in her early twenties, who leaves her home province to travel to Paris to find her mother, whom she has never met. On the boat on the Seine, she meets Anatole (Paul Kircher) and Lucien (Vassili Schneider), painter and photographer, who have also come to try their luck in the capital. Before their amazed eyes was a postcard Paris, a glorious panorama dominated by the brand new Eiffel Tower. These up-and-coming young people were living through a period of technological upheaval. Photography was in its infancy, and cinema was just beginning to appear, but it was the paintings of the Impressionists that changed their vision of the world. These were artistic expressions that strove to capture the moment, transforming the fleeting into eternity and making it part of history.

"With you young people, everything moves too fast these days," says the coach driver driving Adèle to the station. Since then, everything has changed, and nothing has changed, Klapisch and his faithful screenwriting partner Santiago Amigorena, who co-wrote Le Péril Jeune thirty years ago, seem to be telling us mischievously. From this first film, we once again find the authors' love and tenderness for young people, their ability to always be on the move, to be open to change, to project themselves into the future without resistance. Aided by his charismatic cast of promising young actors, Klapisch does not attempt to mimic this energy, but celebrates it. While it is regrettable that the characters “in the present” are sometimes trapped in stereotypes, that some of the dialogue is a little overdone, or that some of the sequences are clumsy, the fact remains that Colours of Time, in addition to its touching family stories, offers a resolutely playful and feel-good reflection on the notion of modernity, an assertive entertainment that revels in the kitsch aesthetics of postcards and Impressionist masterpieces, and that also expresses the filmmaker's admiration for artists and pioneers.

Colours of Time was produced by Ce qui me meut Motion Picture, France 2 Cinéma, La Compagnie Cinématographique (Belgium) and Panache Productions (Belgium). StudioCanal handles international sales and the film will come out in France on May 22.