Paris, 13th District

Audiard’s not been this sharp and electric in a decade at least, understandably energized by his incredible cast and by the intensity of the sexual dynamics explored within.

The result is sloppy but funny, and includes a charming debut performance by Lucie Zhang as a mixed-up call-center employee.

...a love triangle more banal than stirring, and a sex-life mosaic more melodramatic than the tales Tomine told across a series of panels.

Even if this sex-forward comedy-drama is slightly miscast, directorially, and always slightly favoring the male gaze, the actors are excellent.

Paris, 13th District never quite provides a good enough reason to smoosh two of Tomine’s stories together.

Sex, life and love are more than a sport to this trio. But not much more. And that should suit art-film loving audiences just fine.

Audiard manages to take the disconnected urban lifestyle of young adults and present a more faithful rendition than we’ve come to expect. He reminds us that sex is not just sexy but also an effective cinematic tool.

A vision of the City of Light that feels different enough to warrant our attention. These interwoven stories carry wider resonance that extends well beyond a Francophone audience, too, with their stark sexual attitudes and poignant romantic heartbeat.

It interrogates, with a certain episodic coarseness, the dilemmas of love in the digital age of gender identity and intercultural diversity, but in general its overall vision loses its dramatic potential. [Full review in Spanish]

Paints a generational portrait that analyzes socially and anthropologically how intimate relationships work in modern society. [Full review in Spanish]