This film is part of Rentals
La belle époque
Daniel Auteuil’s illustrator is given the chance to visit a different era to re-evaluate his life in this resplendent and absurdly enjoyable French comedy.
Director: Nicolas Bedos
Overview
Victor (Daniel Auteuil) is a disillusioned 60-something who feels alienated by the modern technologies that his psychoanalyst wife (Fanny Ardant) can’t live without. When she throws him out, he meets Antoine (Guillaume Canet), the creator of a high-end re-enactment service that enables wealthy customers to live in the era of their choice. Victor doesn’t hesitate for a second; he wants to go back to a rainy day in 1975, to a little bistro in Lyon, when he first met his greatest love – his wife. His hope is that by replaying the past he might change the present.
Filmed on gorgeous sets and featuring a superb cast, director Nicolas Bedos (Mr & Mrs Adelman) delivers an ingenious and sophisticated drama that reflects on love, memory and nostalgia.
Related
It's Raining Men It's Raining Men
Comedy 2023 123 mins Director: Caroline Vignal
Iris (Laure Calamy) disrupts her bourgeois routine by joining a dating app and embarking on an amusing, sensual quest for identity and lost desire.
The Penguin Lessons The Penguin Lessons
Drama 2025 112 mins Director: Peter Cattaneo
Steve Coogan is superb as a disillusioned teacher whose life is turned upside-down when he rescues a penguin in turbulent 1970s Argentina.
Misericordia Misericordia
Drama 2024 104 mins Director: Alain Guiraudie
French provocateur Alain Guiraudie's rural homecoming story mixing passion, crime, mushrooms and bedroom farce to dizzily involving effect.
The Summer with Carmen The Summer with Carmen
Comedy 2023 106 mins Director: Zacharias Mavroeidis
A seductive and smart gay comedy set on a cruisy Greek island.
Driving Mum Driving Mum
Comedy 2022 113 mins Director: Hilmar Oddsson
Jon drives his mums corpse across Iceland in Hilmar Oddsson’s darkly comic odyssey of self-discovery and acceptance, beautifully filmed in crisp black and white.
The Crime is Mine The Crime is Mine
Thriller 2022 103 mins Director: François Ozon
François Ozon’s witty 1930s farce about a penniless actress who finds fame while on trial for murder, featuring a riotous performance from Isabelle Huppert.
Manon des Sources Manon des Sources
Drama 1986 109 mins Director: Claude Berri
The sequel to Jean de Florette concludes the Provencal period saga about two farming clans, headed by Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil.
Jean de Florette Jean de Florette
Drama 1986 116 mins Director: Claude Berri
The film that inspired a wave of British migration to Provence, Claude Berri’s magical evocation of a bygone rustic France, with Gerard Depardieu.
The Program The Program
Biopic 2015 103 mins Director: Stephen Frears
Ben Foster is Lance Armstrong in this kinetic account of the cyclist who fell from grace, from acclaimed director Stephen Frears.
Seeking Mavis Beacon Seeking Mavis Beacon
Documentary 2024 102 mins Director: Jazmin Jones
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions of people touch typing in the late 80s and through the 90s. But who was the real Mavis Beacon?
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
Ellis Park Ellis Park
Documentary 2024 106 mins Director: Justin Kurzel
Snowtown director Justin Kurzel’s first foray into documentary is an intimate portrait of iconic Australian musician and composer Warren Ellis.
Baby Baby
Drama 2024 106 mins Director: Marcelo Caetano
São Paulo’s streets can offer danger or opportunity, and for Baby, a young gay man carving out his own existence, they deliver both.
Alpha Alpha
Horror 2025 128 mins Director: Julia Ducournau
Julia Ducournau follows her Palme d’Or-winning Titane with this powerful family drama starring Tahar Rahim and Golshifteh Farahani.
The Ceremony The Ceremony
Thriller 2024 92 mins Director: Jack King
When night falls, two Bradford car wash workers are dragged into an escalating moral crisis.