Along Came Love () is a 2023 Belgian-French drama film directed by Katell Quillévéré. The film stars Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste.

Summary
Madeleine, a working-class waitress, and François, a wealthy intellectual, meet in the years immediately following World War II and build a fragile but loving lifetime relationship even though each is carrying personal secrets: Madeleine's young son Daniel was conceived in a casual relationship with a German soldier, which left her branded as a "collabo" and exiled from her home community; while François is bisexual, and was previously in a relationship with a man. Jimmy, an American soldier, is an object of attraction and desire for both Madeleine and François, and ironically provides the key to stability in their marriage.

Cast
 Anaïs Demoustier as Madeleine Villedieu
 Vincent Lacoste as François Delambre
 Hélios Karyo as Daniel
 Josse Capet as Daniel
 Paul Beaurepaire as Daniel
 Morgan Bailey as Jimmy
 Margot Ringard Oldra
 Ambre Gollut
 Luc Bataini
 Virginie Tardy
 Évelyne Tardy
 Sébastien Depommier
 Anne See
 Marc Brunet
 Eugène Marcuse
 Vincent Sornaga
 Simon Rérolle
 Thibault Maunoury

Production
The film was partially inspired by Quillévéré's own grandmother, who kept the secret that her oldest child had been conceived in an affair with a German soldier until very late in life. In a pre-premiere interview for the Cannes Film Festival, Quillévéré described the film as an attempt to "intertwine my passion for Maurice Pialat and Douglas Sirk," by making a film whose melodramatic, Sirkian plot was effectively in conflict with a more realistic and Pialat-like aesthetic not in keeping with the stylistic conventions of traditional melodrama.

The film went into production in spring 2022.

Distribution
The film premiered in the Cannes Premieres program at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it was in contention for the Queer Palm.

Commercial release is currently slated for 29 November 2023.

Reception

Critical response
Wendy Ide of Screen Daily wrote that the film is "a solid, watchable drama that, while perhaps lacking some of the directorial flair of Heal the Living, evocatively tallies the costs of living on the wrong side of social and sexual conventions in the 1950s and 60s."

Fabien Lemercier of Cineuropa reviewed the film positively, writing that "Shot with a camera on the shoulder and amidst natural decor, the film takes a highly sensitive, controlled approach to offer up a modernised, nigh-on naturalistic variation on the classic melodramatic films. Paying equal attention to each of her (brilliantly acted) protagonists, Katell Quillévéré crafts a skilful work of a kind we don’t often see, spanning three time periods (preceded by a prologue of archive material and followed by an epilogue in the comforting tradition of the best films of this kind). A tale where happiness walks a tightrope above abysses, driven by a desire like that expressed by Stefan Zweig in Amok: 'It’s only through passion that you’ll get to know the world around you! Because where secrets abound, life begins too.'"

Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter was more mixed, writing that "the film isn’t a total misfire, and it conveys a strong, at times moving message about the sacrifices required in love and marriage, especially during a period as chaotic as the post-war era. But it does so in ways that can feel overcooked and clichéd, relying more on melodramatic tropes than on the subtle drama found in Quillévéré’s previous works."

Awards and nominations

References

External links
 

2023 films
2023 drama films
2023 LGBT-related films
2020s French films
2020s French-language films
Belgian drama films
Belgian LGBT-related films
French drama films
French-language Belgian films
French LGBT-related films
LGBT-related drama films
Male bisexuality in film
Films directed by Katell Quillévéré