Why you can trust 12DOVE
After the sexy cine-brat satire Irma Vepp and the perversely appealing Gallic navel-gazing of Late August, Early September, Olivier Assayas' latest marks a major change of direction - - and not necessarily for the best.
A period melodrama set in the first half of the 20th century, Les Destinées Sentimentales relates the troubled marriage between Protestant minister Jean (Charles Berling) and a spirited younger woman, Pauline (Emmanuelle Béart). Among the obstacles are Jean's first, very bitter wife (Isabelle Huppert), World War One, and Jean's eventual obsession with saving the family business.
The foregrounding of a marriage against half a century of French history is a fine idea in principle, but Assayas is too reverential both to his literary source and the genre. It means that despite looking sumptuous, three rambling hours spent dwelling on miserable people takes its toll.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.

Metaphor: ReFantazio wanted to fix the JRPG grinding problem, but Atlus went too far at one point and accidentally broke the whole combat system

Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth battle director says combining everything he learned on Monster Hunter: World with Square Enix's technology and unique skills created a "chemical reaction"

"Minutes after Palworld released," Pocketpair was already getting game pitches from "some really big names" before it even set up its own publisher: "No one has money at the moment"