It starts with a break up. Louis (Louis Garrel) leaves his wife and their young daughter for another woman Claudia (Anna Mouglalis). Louis and Claudia are both struggling actors. He thinks moody Claudia is the one that he truly loves and reject all the other advances that are put on him. He is committed. But she isn't happy and their poverty is crushing her spirit. Holed up in their small attic apartment and without a job, Claudia secretly looks for a better man who can provide for her.
Delicately balanced and beautifully put together, Garrel's slight, 77 minute effort is very much akin to old black and white romance of French New Wave of the 60s. There are hardly any coverages, most scenes are shot on a single take and life-like. Garrel, a forever romantic, has never moved on like his contemporaries but has faithfully stuck in his brand of self reflexive filmmaking with his trusty actors who are all very on point.Louis Garrel reminds you of more handsome Jean-Pierre Leaud, sexy, I-just-smoked-10,000-cigarettes Mouglalis is great as a man-eater (yet not a caricature) and Olga Milshtein as Charlotte, Louis's daughter firmly anchors Jealousy in real-life realm. It's a delicious stuff.
