Young carpenter Luc, the son of a carpenter, enters the most prestigious joinery school in France, something his father could only dream of. Commuting between the capital and his home town, he starts romantic relationships with three very different girls and for the first time is disappointed in love. This sophisticated black-and-white melodrama by the French filmmaker Philippe Garrel premiered in the main competition of the 2020 Berlinale.
The film is stylistically close to Garrel’s love trilogy of Jealousy (2013), In the Shadow of Women (2015), and Lover for a Day (2017). However, The Salt of Tears shifts the focus from middle-aged protagonists to the romantic experiences of a different generation: a young man and three girls.
Although this old-fashioned movie about men’s cowardice and women’s despair is set in the present, there are few markers of our time on the screen. The characters seem to exist outside of time. They use push-button phones and meet in the street rather than through apps. Garrel’s view of love is nostalgic, but he does not claim to be an expert in romantic affairs. Quite the opposite. He shows that love is a feeling that always takes one by surprise.
The film will be screened in French with Russian subtitles.
The Salt of Tears
Director: Philippe Garrel
France, Switzerland, 2020. 100 min., 16+