Love Me Tender
Vicky Krieps excels again in the tale of a custody battle and of a divorcee discovering her true self.
Vicky Krieps and Viggo Ferreira-Redier
Image courtesy of Peccadillo Pictures.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender may not quite be the masterpiece that it initially promises to be but it is undeniably an exceptional work given that it displays the talent of the European actress Vicky Krieps at her very best. When I saw Krieps playing a leading role opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Phantom Thread (2017) I immediately recognised not mere promise but fully-fledged star quality and I was not the only one to do so. I have since seen her in other roles and in 2022's Corsage playing the role of Elizabeth of Austria she was once again superb. Indeed, this actress has never let us down, but it could well be that it is her performance in Love Me Tender which is the one that most fully matches up to what she magically achieved in that breakout role back in 2017. This, surely, is the best performance by an actress that we are likely to see in 2026.
Cambet’s film is her adaptation of the novel by Constance Debré which is set in Paris and which was published in 2020. It was recognised as being semi-autobiographical but the name given to the central figure, played here by Krieps, is Clémence Delcourt. We meet her at a time when she has separated from her husband, Laurent (Antoine Reinartz), but has not actually divorced him since she feels that their young son, Paul (Viggo Ferreira-Redier), now eight-years-old, should know his father. Her situation is quickly explained in the film through a voice-over narration by Clémence herself as she describes her situation and her thoughts and this device recurs as the piece proceeds. It is linked to the fact that Clémence is portrayed as a writer putting her own experiences into a book which will be published in due course in a direct echo of what Debré herself did.
There is a key moment early on in the film when without foreseeing the outcome Clémence tells Laurent that she is now into women and he, responding in outrage, begins proceedings for sole custody of Paul. Furthermore, he seeks to bolster his claim with wild accusations of paedophilia and suggests that her behaviour justifies her being seen as crazy. These assertions may not really help his case, but even so a hearing does lead to the judge recommending that a psychiatrist appraises Clémence. Ultimately, the report that emerges will decide that she is not psychologically unstable. Nevertheless, it takes all of nine months for it to appear and in the meantime Paul has been required to live with Laurent while Clémence has had only very limited visiting rights. Only later on is approval given for Clémence to take Paul to visit her aged father (Féodor Atkine) who, now unwell, lives in the country. Nevertheless, the legal ramifications will continue for months and in the meanwhile Clémence fights against Laurent’s influence on Paul in the hope that her love for him will win through.
Clémence's sexuality is clearly very relevant here since it is something which can be used against her when it is a question of arguing whether or not she is a suitable mother. But, quite apart from that, Love Me Tender also sets out to be a sympathetic portrait of somebody who, after many years of marriage, comes to recognise that she can only be her true self if she lives as a lesbian. Early on we see how her understandably obsessive concern regarding Paul interferes with the relationship which she has with Elisabeth (Tallullah Cassavetti) but it is only in the film’s second half that a new relationship is given a central place in the story. This involves Clémence and a journalist named Sarah (Monia Chokri) and this development now gives prominence to the lesbian side of the tale.
When watching Love Me Tender one comes to sense in time that the two themes match up somewhat less effectively than must have been intended. Good as the film is, there is a definite sense that the running length of 134 minutes becomes overindulgent and that is a factor which does not help. When Sarah first appears her initial meeting with Clémence is engagingly handled but subsequently there are times when, in contrast with the unfolding legal drama, the screenplay makes their relationship feel less compellingly real. At the very least it doesn't match up to the intensity of the scenes which depict the long struggle for custody of Paul including a series of meetings officially set up between mother and son which take place in a formal setting and in the presence of a social worker (Aurélia Petit). There are moments too when Laurent’s bad behaviour makes him a bit too much of a one-dimensional character. More persuasive given the Parisian setting is the fact that some of the philosophical notions that are expressed from time to time make this a film which is decidedly French in character. Appropriately enough the last scene of all invites a considered response from the viewer whether supportive or otherwise of the view put forward at the close when Clémence finds a way of coming to terms with what the future is likely to hold for her and for Paul.
But, if details here and there and particularly in the film’s second half leave one with the impression that Cambet’s judgment is not always sound (this is only her second feature film after all), nothing can detract from what Vicky Krieps achieves here. This is a perfect example of an actress being able to enter so completely into a role that she lives the part. Because the character is fully expressed from the inside, every detail of facial expression counts quite as much as the words that she speaks. It stands to reason that those who already admire this outstanding actress need to see Love Me Tender, but any connoisseur of great acting will recognise that what she achieves here is truly exceptional.
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Antoine Reinartz, Monia Chokri, Viggo Ferreira-Redier, Féodor Atkine, Aurélia Petit, Manuel Vallade, Oumnia Hanader, Tallullah Cassavetti, Julien De Saint-Jean, Park Ji-min.
Dir Anna Cazenave Cambet, Pro Raphaëlle Delauche and Nicolas Sanfaute, Screenplay Anna Cazenave Cambet, from the novel by Constance Debré, Ph Kristy Baboul, Pro Des Mathilde Poncet and Thomas Ducos, Ed Joris Laquittant, Music Maxence Dussère, Costumes Vanessa Deutsch.
Novoprod Cinéma Productions/France 2 Cinéma/Viktoria Productions/Canal+/Ciné+OCS- Peccadillo Pictures.
134 mins. France/Luxembourg. 2025. UK Rel: 7 August 2026. Cert. 15.
