His return makes people speak more than one. Some did not believe it anymore. Others do not want to believe it and they are already offended that such showcase is offered to a visible filmmaker for their way of filming sex and female bodies. The man in question? Abdellatif Kechiche.
Acclaimed by criticism, even crowned with a gold palm in 2013 for Adèle’s lifewho shared with his two actresses Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, the Franco-Tunisian director fell out of favor since he accumulated several controversies in his bag.
However, he returned this weekend on the banks of Lake Major, at the Locarno Festival, in Switzerland (August 6-16, 2025). His new film, the third opus of his French trilogy Mektoub my love In which he filmed the emotions and mischief of young people in the 1990s, he was selected in the official competition.
“Horrible”
Originally from Tunisia, Abdellatif Kechiche arrived in Nice at the age of six. Passionate about the theater, he starts for the first time as an actor (Mint tea Abdelkrim bahloul, The innocent By André Techiné …), then start writing stages and find a producer (Jean-François Lepetit) ready to finance his first feature film, Voltaire’s faultreleased in 2000.
In 2004, he invited Marivaux and the chat of young suburban in Dodgeunanimously applauded by criticism. The awards are raining immediately: he won César for the best film, the best director and the best stage. In 2008, he recidivized in these same categories with his next film, The seed and the mulereleased in December 2007, column of a licensed worker of the Sète shipyards, who embark on the opening of a restaurant. Hafsia Herzi wins César for the best female hope. Until then, nothing too shaded, therefore.
Is when it is promoted Adèle’s lifeLove story between two young women, to whom the first criticisms are heard publicly. Léa Seydoux denounces “horrible” shooting conditions, endless days, hundreds of plugs for the same scene. His playmate, Adèle Exarchopoulos, of which it was the first important role in 19, talks about “ten whole days to film” the very long and very raw sex scene of the film.
Complaint for “sexual assault”
Wounded, Abdellatif Kechiche will take five years before returning behind the camera in 2017 with Mektoub, my love (singing one)The first part of his freely adapted trilogy of the novel The injury, the real By François Bégaudeau. This divide: part of the criticism welcomes the gesture of cinema, while another gets tired of filmed plans as close as possible to bodies, especially women. They are largely considered “objective” and “sexualization”.
The director, who discovered many young actors, including Sara Forestier, Hafsia Herzi and Adèle Exarchopoulos, reveals new talents there, including Shaïn Boumedine and Ophélie Bau. In cinemas, the film totals about 132,000 admissions according to CBO.
In 2018, a 29 -year -old woman accused the filmmaker of sexual assault after a Parisian alcoholic dinner. Abdellatif Kechiche denies. The complaint was classified without continuing in May 2020.
Meanwhile, in May 2019, the projection of the second part of his saga, baptized Intermezzo, Get the controversy again in the Croisette. In question? A very long scene of non -simulated cunnilingus.
The main actress Ophélie Bau even leaves the room before the end of the film and skip in the process at the press conference, which makes her consent doubt so that sex scenes are transmitted. After the Ultra-Houleuse press conference, the director disappears from traffic. The film never launched due to a conflict with its distributor, Pathé.
No launch date
In October 2022, Abdellatif Kechiche briefly left silence at the Montpellier film festival. Black glasses in the nose and dark appearance, explains that he works at the end of the last two parts of Mektoub my lovewithout the plans considered annoying for the first female role. An intervention nicknamed and killed by feminist protesters.
Three years later, the filmmaker, victim of a blow of mid -March, returned to the front of the stage with his third Opus, of which an unpublished first extract was revealed in early August. The film had been made in quasi integrality in 2017, in the continuity of Sing one. Last 2h14 while the first part, Sing oneHe approached 2h55 and the second, Intermezzo3h32.
But the man will not be present this Saturday at Locarno to present Mektoub my love (defeated song)His historical press fixation told AFP. According to the journalist Brigitte Baronnet, her main actress, Ophélie Bau, in the heart of the controversy, therefore, she should accompany the projection. The actors will be dedicated to the exercise of questions/answers.
A session scrutinized very closely by criticism, while the film currently has no release or distributor date.
Source: BFM TV
