PLAIRE, AIMER ET COURIR VITE (SORRY ANGEL)

Christophe Honoré 2018 France 132min french s.-t.en.
Synopsis:
Right from the start – with characters, settings, and credits flashed across the screen like a kinetic mosaic – the moviegoer is introduced to Plaire aimer et courir vite deft juggling of a large ensemble cast and their interlacing storylines, writer/director Christophe Honoré offering the sardonically sweet and wise tone that provides the film’s fluttering, open heart. The are-they-or-aren’t-they couple at the center of the 1993-set story is Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps), a late-30s writer and relationship “complicator” living in Paris, and the young bisexual Breton student, Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), that captures his attention. Through crackling dialogue and mutual attraction, they keep entering one another’s orbits, Jacques’ HIV-positive status preventing him from holding on to anything too tightly and Arthur’s youthful, philosophical promiscuity a diversion from anything more serious. Each must face the future and decide what they want to do with the time they’ve been given. Loaded with naturalistic details and near-epic-sized romance, Plaire aimer et courir vite manages to be empathetic to multiple perspectives at once, revealing what’s most harmonious about our often lonely, incompatible souls. – Michael Belcher