Love Songs

On Sunday I had the good fortune to go see Les Chansons d'Amour, the latest film from Christophe Honore. Part tragedy, part comedy, part love story, and all musical, this film is, at its most basic, an exploration of loss and confusion.

Though not a fan in general of the musical genre, I found this playful but melancholy romp through Paris benefited greatly from Alex Beaupain's low-key, melodious compositions, sung with those special French throaty vocals. Perhaps it is because songs allow a poetic lyricism that, when spoken without a tune, sounds merely kitschy if not downright absurd. This way, Chiara Mastroianni can describe returning to a park she once frequented with her dead sister and end with "et puis rien [and then nothing]", and the effect prompts your heart to break, not your eyes to roll.

This film is successful not only because of its ability to use music well, but for the reasons any narrative film is successful: a compelling and universal story, characters we can care about, actors who can make us care about them, pretty cinematography, a fresh style, and an inherent likeability. (A film critic whose name I don't recall put it best: "Christophe Honore's films aren't just films you like; you develop weird little crushes on them.") Basically, it's a good story relayed by good storytelling.

Really, though, I think the reason I like this movie so much is ultimately narcissistic: it speaks very eloquently to my generation. Recalling movies of another time that were aimed at confused and disenfranchised youth - the New Wave - "Les Chansons d'Amour" recognizes the confusion of fulfilled desires. In this film, the open sexuality the 68ers strove for has come to pass; everything is possible, allowed, even accepted by the parents, but nothing is easier. Loss is still loss, grief grief, and sorrow a big confusing mess that can't be shared nearly as easily as sex. In the end, all we might be able to do is stumble along until the person we wake up next to is someone we might want to see again when the night returns. And then hope that that person might "love us less, but love us for a long time" - because whatever else life and love are about, they are certainly about learning to compromise.