Doubles Vies (aka Non-Fiction) (2019)

At a small publishing house in the Parisian literary world, an editor (Guillaume Canet) refuses to publish a friend's (Vincent Macaigne) latest novel. Unknown to him, his wife (Juliette Binoche) is having an on going affair with the writer. Meanwhile, the editor is having his own affair with a fellow employee (Christa Theret). The writer's wife (Nora Hamzawi) is too busy with her career to have an affair. Directed by Olivier Assayas, I found this film a bit of a letdown. I was a big fan of his two previous films, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA and PERSONAL SHOPPER, and this one seemed too didactic rather than fluid. There's really no plot to speak of and as the characters go round and round with each other, they talk their heads off. Mainly about how their world is changing too rapidly for them to keep up with (an entirely relatable subject). I still liked it well enough but his characters all seemed too self absorbed to catch my interest and it lacked the magic of his last two movies. Still, it's an intelligent piece of film making and heaven knows, we need more of that.