"Are you ready to sacrifice your life for science ?" Molecules, spectrometers, serotonin levels, synthesis, derivatives, side effects, manufacturing costs, honorary publications, ambitions and pressures… A laboratory in Paris’ Physics and Chemistry School (where a plaque recalls Marie Curie’s discovery of radium) is the setting for Aurélien Peilloux’s compelling debut feature film, Chemical Bond, which was unveiled in a world premiere in competition at the 13th Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival, and which follows in the wake of a newly arrived PhD candidate who’s full of good intentions and dreaming of scientific discoveries. It’s a world the filmmaker knows inside out, having worked in the field before yielding to the siren call of the seventh art, and whose inner workings and stakes he recreates with great accuracy, adapting them (from a screenplay co-written with Olivier Gorce) to a human scale with very effective simplicity.

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"There are 350 million people with depression worldwide. Are we going to treat them or keep droning on?" Hailing from the provinces and arriving in the Parisian lab run by Anne Riesler (Emmanuelle Devos), solitary and kind Agathe (Galatéa Bellugi) is foisted ("a bit of parity is good for funding committees") on young researcher Charles (Stefan Crepon) who’s tasked with orchestrating the clinical trial phase of an incredibly promising new antidepressant called Terastène. Met with an especially chilly welcome ("don’t do anything, just watch", "we don’t mix"), highly intuitive Agathe soon discovers a new synthesis pathway for a molecule which could slash the production costs of the German pharmaceutical group who are partnering on this research by a factor of five. But the deadlines to bring the experiment to fruition are tight and pressure is mounting amidst a fear of failure, a desire to shine and secure a bright future, professional tunnel vision, the carrot-and-stick policy of a lab director fighting for her unit’s economic survival, jealousies, and much more. What meaning will Agathe lend to all this, and to her own existence?

Striking just the right balance of ingredients in an intelligent, thoroughly researched, multi-strand narrative which is cleverly set out to ensure accessibility for lay viewers, Chemical Bond sets a brisk pace, staying as close as possible to its endearing protagonist who’s grappling with ambivalent feelings and the side effects of her scientific quest ("the essential thing is that the research advances"). Very solidly acted, the film falls into the rather exciting category of young French cinema which is trying to reinvent itself by engaging dynamically and accessibly with complex professional environments, as Marguerite’s Theorem did with mathematics, for example. It’s a successful synthesis by Aurélien Peilloux, who passes the debut-feature film test with flying colours, and whose next experiment we await with great curiosity.

Chemical Bond was produced by Delante Productions and Melocoton Films, in co-production with France 3 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Belgian company Beside Productions, with France tv distribution steering international sales. The film’s release in French cinemas will take place via Memento on 6 January 2027.