The French filmmaker Jacques Audiard stays true to a signature impulse: to probe the visible world by stepping into fictions that blur the line between reality and myth. His latest storytelling arc leans into drama and genre motifs to chart the inner weather of modern masculinity, offering a cinematic mirror that isn’t about copying life but about reimagining it. This shift moves toward a more intimate, human-centered inquiry, focusing on a generation shaped by professional uncertainty, intergenerational tensions, repeated disappointments, and above all the shifting, fluid nature of intimate connections.
Paris 13th District, both title and lens, voices a muted, monochrome sensibility that mirrors the present mood of younger adults navigating desire, companionship, and the omnipresent pull of digital networks. The film observes how dating apps and online entertainment reform the texture of romance, sometimes accelerating closeness and other times widening distance. Its scenes of intimate encounters glow with candid warmth, capturing both the thrill of attraction and the vulnerability that follows. The narrative refuses to sermonize or moralize; instead it renders a world where technology and longing coexist, challenging traditional notions of monogamy and partnership without offering easy answers. The director’s craft shines in how it presents romance as a living, breathing conversation—imperfect, impulsive, and irresistibly human—while quietly tracing the subtle friction between spontaneous desire and the conventions that still govern intimate commitments.
Paris, district 13
creative voice Jacques Audiard
performers Lucie Zhang, Makita Samba, Noemie Merlant, Jehnny Beth
Year 2021
premiere April 8, 2022
Punctuation ★★★★