An epic depiction of France's near-revolution of May 1968 and its aftermath, Regular Lovers sets up a dialogue with several other films about the events. Its period ambiance is perfect, but instead of feeling like a documentary, it suggests an apocryphal French New Wave opus, while jousting overtly with Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers.
Francois (Louis Garrel) is an aspiring poet who dodges military police to fight on the barricades of May '68. He becomes involved with Lilie (Clotilde Hesme), a sculptor who works in a foundry casting objects for more successful artists, and hangs out with Antoine (Julien Lucas), a wealthy opium addict.
The pacing of Regular Lovers is leisurely, but Garrel assumes that we need some time to adjust to the rhythms of another period. His characters aren't motivated by ideology as much as the chance to make a difference in everyday life: they view travel or poetry as political acts. While this doesn't always turn out so well, Regular Lovers never suggests that the attempt was misguided or doomed from the start. A thousand sub-MTV montages set to bad pop songs have destroyed the idea of music as an expression of ecstatic spirit; in a dance sequence set to the Kinks' "This Time Tomorrow," Garrel manages to dredge that notion back from nostalgia's dustbin. He brings the past — even its unfashionable bits — back to life with an immediacy that bypasses retro cool. For that reason alone, Regular Lovers is a must-see. — Steve Erickson
