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This was our first TIFF film of the year, and it was a nice way of easing us into a fairly busy 9 days. Les chansons d’amour was directed and co-written by Christophe Honoré, and co-written by Gaël Morel. After looking these guys up, it would appear that I am quite a fan. Of the films that Honoré has written and/or directed, I have seen Le clan, Ma mère, Novo and Tout contre Léo. Morel co-wrote Le clan and I have seen one of the films he directed, À toute vitesse.

Les chansons d’amour is a musical, and a rather unconventional one. Honoré wrote the film around songs that Alex Beaupain had already written. Also, the musical numbers kind of float in and out of the story - and actually feel quite natural - as opposed to being grand productions. Of this, Honoré explains that “this film is a musical because the characters can only express their feelings by singing.”

We’re introduced to Ismaël (Louis Garrel) a few weeks into a newly-evolved relationship with his girlfriend, Julie, as they have recently adopted a third person to their mix: Alice. This situation is quite funny and introduces us to some of the film’s questions: What is love? Who can I love? Who could love me? What kind of love do I want?

Things happen and Ismaël finds himself alone. Well… almost alone. He now has a stalker, a young student named Erwann (played by Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, first seen four years ago in André Téchiné’s Les Égarés). This young man’s advances cause Ismaël to ask himself the same questions as he did in the beginning of the film, but out of an entirely different situation. Or maybe it’s not so different…?

I really enjoyed this movie. It was very charming, and I found myself smiling almost the entire time. It was a combination of the songs, the characters, the stories, the actors… and maybe also by watching them run around Paris…