No Love Lost

Étienne is barely twenty when he falls in love with Valérie. They are hardly any more when their daughter Rosa is born. And then, one day, Valérie leaves and never returns. He chooses not to make a drama of it and builds a happy life for him and his child. Sixteen years later, when Rosa is about to lead her own life, Étienne recognizes his wife in a television report. The past brutally resurfaces, and father and daughter are propelled into one last chaotic family journey.

I did struggle a little at the start of this believing that "Etienne" (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) could actually be the father of "Rosa" (Céleste Brunnquell). Though there are sixteen years between them in real life, he looked way more like her brother! Anyway, it transpires that she was the result of a loving relationship with "Valérie" (Mercedes Dassy) but for some reason that woman upped and left whilst the girl was but a child. This has led these two to build quite a formidable and frank relationship. "Rosa" is dating "Youssef" (Mohammed Louridi) who rather entertainingly insists on creeping in and out of their house even though he is clearly visible to her father, the neighbours and probably the people on the ISS, too. He claims it's because he wants her to feel it's more akin to a traditional wooing, is adamant that they sleep together without sex and that leads us to one of the best scenes in the film between dad and frustrated beau. It begins to dawn on both of them that their lives are changing, that she will soon set off on her own and that leads to a creeping degree of unwelcome melodrama here. The dynamic between the father/daughter/boyfriend is quite an humorous one but once we set off on the more traditionally flawed familial drama, the whole thing starts to lose it's charm as it becomes a little dull and predictable. I did enjoy Biscayart's performance here as a dad who's determined to do whatever it takes to make his daughter happy whilst clearly longing for that for himself too, and Louridi steals his scenes with some pithy and honest dialogue and his omnipresent notebook that did make me smile. It runs out of steam, but is still quite an enjoyably characterful watch. It might also make you check if you have thin walls, too.