Last year, French writer/director Mia Hansen-Love bought us 'Father Of My Children', a film about a family going through a grieving process. Now she brings us another film about a different type of grief.
The world of movies is full of films about young people who fall in love. The thing about young love is that one or both of the people in the relationship fall very deeply in love and cannot see anything beyond the person they are in love with. This film deals with that obsession but in a refreshingly different way. I can see how people might not like 'Goodbye, First Love', it is very slow and takes its time to develop the story. The female lead Camille is not the most appealing character either. But I did not mind that because to me it felt more real. Most romantic films come with a somewhat heightened reality to them. They are set in a real world but some actions and behaviours feel like they could only occur in a film. This story and its characters felt more real and like it could have happened. I will admit that the second half of the film really drags and I felt a little bored by it. I was sitting there wishing it would end.
Lola Creton is very good as Camille. While her character comes across as a bit annoying and not really going through any growth in the course of the story she gives an excellent performance. Sebastian Urzendowsky is good as her lover Sullivan but I did not feel his love for Camille was as strong as hers was for him. Magne-Havard Brekke is decent as the older man Camille falls for after Sullivan leaves.
Not the type of film that will be to everyone's liking. If you like your love stories a bit different and more realistic then you might like it more.
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