A unique harmony of ideas and intentions has linked Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo over the course of the six Cantet-directed films that Campillo edited, five of which he co-wrote. Sadly, Enzo marks the last of these partnerships. After Cantet’s death in April 2024, the producers decided to pass the directing on to Campillo who, however, notes: “Enzo remains Laurent’s film, it’s his project, his vision of human conflicts.” It was a fine choice to open this year’s Directors Fortnight in Cannes, and a way to honor two admirable filmmakers at once.
Notably, both have found acclaim at Cannes: Cantet’s The Class won the Palme d’Or in 2008, and Campillo’s 120 BPM won the Grand Prix in 2017.
Set in the sun-kissed south of France and washed by the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean by D.P. Jeanne Laboirie’s sensual cinematography, the film has some of the same hedonistic, exotic vibes as Campillo’s 2023 Red Island, which unfolded on a French military base in Madagascar. Here again the privileged class to which the young protag belongs – and defies – lives blithely in a members-only club for the wealthy and educated. Born clutching the silver spoon, Enzo has it all from a villa overlooking the French Riviera to cool, tolerant parents with deep pockets, finely individualized by actors Pier Francesco Favino and Elodie Bouchez. But while his brother Victor follows the family’s class expectations and preps for an exclusive college in Paris, Enzo has opted to leave school at 16 and train as a bricklayer.
The first scene sets up the young apprentice’s clumsy attempts to build a straight wall as though he was a normal working class newbie on the crew, but when the foreman angrily drives him home to inform his folks he has no talent, the big reveal gets a well-earned laugh. Behind a high hedgerow and a remote-controlled gate lies the steep path to a fabulous villa on a hill made of voyeuristic plate glass and surrounded by a snaking swimming pool. The foreman is speechless at this turn of events and lets Enzo back on the job.
The truth is that Enzo has a mind of his own, one that is slowly revealed through his awkward interactions with his puzzled family and working class colleagues. Played with brooding charm by newcomer Eloy Pohu, he is a romantic teenage loner who prefers a solitary walk on the cliffs at night to the sunny life of controlled idleness that his parents – particularly his over-protective dad – holds out to him like a golden ring. Though nothing is spelled out in the film, one gradually gets a feel for Enzo’s unusual psyche and feels pleased that it includes an innate anti-establishment, anti-class impulse.
Bouchez’s modern mom, who is described as a well-paid engineer, seems vivid, well-balanced and loving, but his highly-charged relationship with his father is a problem. His constant anxieties over his son’s safety – he’s the parent who sleeps on the living room couch waiting for Enzo to come home late – delicately hint at unresolved issues in his own past.
In contrast, the hard life of the construction crew with their bleeding hands and cut-off fingers is accompanied by a warm camaraderie after hours. Enzo bonds with two Ukrainians who have come to France to make money (though their pay sounds far from lavish.) He finds himself strongly drawn to the handsome 25-year-old Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi), but the fact that Enzo is underage and Vlad is straight keeps a potential relationship festering instead of developing. This puts the brakes on the second part of the film, which soon loses its rhythm.
Just as French colonialism underlaid and derailed every personal relationship in Red Island, so the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a constant background hum in Enzo. Vlad and Miroslav live under the threat of being called up to fight for their country, willingly or unwillingly. Enzo is greatly struck by this life-or-death call to duty and disapproves of Vlad’s disinterest in becoming a hero. But in the end, the war feels a bit tacked on to a story that is serious about describing adolescent thinking and rebellion. Not only war, but every other threat of violence – a stolen gun, a fist fight, a foolish suicide attempt – is quickly defused without lasting ill effects. If this is Enzo’s first encounter with the world’s brutality, it seems navigable.
A film by Laurent Cantet
Director, editor: Robin Campillo
Screenwriters: Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo, Gilles Marchand
Producer: Marie-Ange Luciani
Cast: Eloy Pohu, Elodie Bouchez, Pier Francesco Favino, Maksym Slivinskyi, Nathan Japy, Vladyslav Holyk, Malou Khebizi, Philippe Petit
Cinematography: Jeanne Lapoirie
Production design: Mélissa Artur Ponturo
Costume design: Isabelle Pannetier
Sound: Tan-Ham Sicart
Production companies: Les Films de Pierre in association with Lucky Red, Page 114, Les Films du Fleuve, France 3 Cinema, Ami Alexandre Mattiussi
World sales: MK2 Films
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight opening film)
In French, Ukrainian
102 minutes
