Clémence (Vicky Krieps) has built a careful life: starting off with a law career and now a writer, an amicable separation from her husband Laurent (Antoine Reinartz), and shared custody of their son Paul. But when she falls in love with Sarah (Monia Chokri) and finally lives as her authentic self, Laurent files to take Paul away from her. Clémence finds herself fighting an unjust system that demands she prove she's fit to mother her own child - simply because of who she loves. A tender, unflinching story of one woman who refuses to be erased.
The Garden Cinema View:
A typically impressive performance from Vicky Krieps anchors this structurally unusual custody battle drama. Indeed, Love Me Tender is notable for the ways in which it toys with and eludes the melodramatic cliches associated with such films. Whilst Clémence (Krieps) must deal with a dependably Kafka-esque legal system and the cruelties of her seething ex-husband, director-writer Anna Cazenave Cambet shifts these toward the backdrop - a never-ending nightmare which settles into quotidian drudgery. With no fixed endpoint to her custody fight, Clémence’s life must continue despite the pain of separation.
And so the story proceeds somewhat episodically, focusing on the small details of Clémence’s life, rather than the core struggle. What emerges is a very mature film, which echoes the work of Mia Hansen-Løve with excellent cinematography to match the sublime Krieps.
