still from My Sex Life … or How I Got into an Argument, courtesy Why Not Productions.
1996 / 178 mins. / color
Dir. Arnaud Desplechin / Scr. Emmanuel Bourdieu, Arnaud Desplechin / Cine. Vivi Dragan Vasile
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Marianne Denicourt, Emmanuelle Devos
DCP courtesy Why Not Productions
Introduced by Richard Peña, Columbia University School of the Arts
Director Arnaud Desplechin’s breakout film drew plaudits upon its release in 1996, with actor Mathieu Amalric winning a César for his performance as Paul Dédalus. (Keen-eyed viewers will also spot future Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard in the cast.) Featuring a sprawling running time and a plot about the romantic dalliances of a philosophy grad student, My Sex Life shares much in common with director Jean Eustache’s post-New Wave masterpiece The Mother and the Whore (1973). And like Eustache’s film, it consists largely of conversations in cafés, philosophy lecture halls, and the bedroom. “For a French guy,” Desplechin wryly quipped, “this sort of film is like a Western for Americans.” Amalric would go on to reprise his role as Dédalus in two subsequent Desplechin films, A Christmas Tale (2008) and My Golden Days (2015).
– Rob King
About Richard Peña Selects
On the eve of his retirement, Professor Richard Peña has selected six films of particular importance to him and his career, ranging from classic Hollywood noir (Kiss Me Deadly) to one of the last Chinese films made before the Cultural Revolution (Two Stage Sisters) to screen in this three day festival.