L’amour ouf, chosen for the 2024 Cannes competition, is one of the most watched French films, especially for its casting, with Francois Civil and Adele Exarchopoulos. FYI, they both shared the Bac Nord poster with Gilles Lelouch.
Alain Chabat, Benoit Poelvorde, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zad, Elodie Bouches, Karim Leclew, Raphael Quenard, Anthony Bajon and Johan Dionet also star.
Originally announced as an XXL length of at least 3 hours, the film ended up running a bit longer than expected. According to the official website of the Cannes Film Festival, it will last 2:46. So below the 3 hour threshold. It will be one of the longest films in Cannes competition this year.
12 out of 22 films will exceed 2 hours in the competition this year #skin2024
The longest film lasts 2h48: Holy Fig Seed
Then comes L’amour ouf by Gilles Lelouch (2h46) and Kinds of kindness by Lanthimos (2h44).
The shortest lasts 1h 20 (Hazanavicius) https://t.co/BjkICQr8Y6
— Bridget Baronnet (@BBaronnet) May 5, 2024
A great musical romantic love story
The film presents itself as a big, ultra-violent musical romantic love story set over 20 years.
The official content is as follows: “80s in the north of France. Jack and Clotter grew up between high school benches and harbor docks. He learns, he hangs. And then their destinies intersect and it’s crazy love. Life will try to separate them, but nothing will work, these two are like two ventricles of the same heart…“
The film will develop in several eras and cross temporality. The other two main roles will be played by Malik Fricka (seen in Apaches) and Mallory Vanek (seen in Les Pires). They will play the young version of the characters played by François Civil and Adele Exarchopoulos.
Screenplay by Gilles Lelouch, based on the book by Neville Thompson, co-written by Ahmed Hamid, Julien Lambroschin and Audrey Divan.
Malik Fricka and Mallory Vanek
What kind of movie will it be?
L’Amour ouf will have the uniqueness of crossing genres. “A mix of genres, especially musical comedy. It’s a teenage movie, a love movie…“, develops Gilles Lelouch on the microphone of Beau Geste.
“I love the mix of genres. Violence mixed with humor, irony in the midst of great sincerity. I tried to do a kind of sensory journey“, he continues in the columns of “Premier” magazine for the month of December 2023.
In terms of reports, the makers are hailing the director’s love for cinema that calls out to Scorsese, Tarantino or West Side Story… The film will have an XXL length as quoted reports…
Gilles Lelouch explains at the premiere that he warned his producers from the start that the film would not be less than 3 hours long. “Not because I’m on Meluni’s Martin Scorsese, but because I can’t tell this story in less time“.
For the dance part, the director called the most sought-after company of the moment: the collective (La)Horde, for which this will be their first foray into cinema.

Francois Civil and Adele Exarchopoulos
Why are you waiting so much for this movie?
L’Amour ouf had a long genesis. The project has been announced for a long time. The first attempt to make this film was made with Benoit Polvorde a few years ago.
Gilles Lelouch has been teasing his upcoming feature film, the sequel to Le Grand Bain. The film will be called L’amour ouf and is billed as an “ultra-violent romantic comedy.”
This teaser poster has been revealed @ Variety at the cinema market #skin2021 pic.twitter.com/8y9Hx3PCcc— AlloCiné (@allocine) July 9, 2021
The project was shelved and Gilles Lelouch released Le Grand Bain, with the success we know (4.3 million hits). As the director explains, it was the success of this film that allowed him to realize this new project, which he had been thinking about for exactly 17 years!
“This movie is a fantasy come true“, he admits still on the microphone of Beau Geste, which was broadcast on Sunday 15 October on France 2.
L’Amour ouf will be Gilles Lelouch’s third feature film after Narco and Grand Bane. It will be released on October 16, 2024.
Source: Allocine

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.