A woozy summer of youthful aimlessness morphs into a complex infatuation as a rebellious bourgeois French teen falls for an older Ukrainian bricklayer in this sun-drenched coming of age tale.
Another powerful, absorbing picture from Campillo and a fitting swan song for Laurent Cantet.
Enzo 2025
In idyllic Southern France, mason’s apprentice Enzo (Eloy Pohu) is a constant screw-up, to the ongoing aggravation of the older workmen. It’s not until we reach Enzo’s palatial home that we understand the peculiar dynamic at play: Enzo comes from money, the other workmen do not. A rebel without a cause, Enzo shirks the comforts of the bourgeois lifestyle afforded him by his wealthy parents, finding himself astride two worlds, not fitting into either. Soon, he is inexorably, painfully drawn to the handsome, older Ukrainian workman Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi), who himself is rebelling against the call to return home to join the fight against Putin.
Easily calling to mind the dreamy longueurs of Call Me by Your Name, Robin Campillo’s Enzo follows his breakout BPM (Beats Per Minute) with a poetic, devastating tale of infatuation and teen discovery, shot through with a subtle modern-day urgency. Starting the project as a co-writer, Campillo stepped in after the passing in pre-production of original filmmaker Laurent Cantet. The lingering spectre of Cantet accompanies Campillo’s elegiac, warm direction, offering another shade to this deeply affecting portrait of youthful longing. — Tom Augustine