L'amour et la veine: A curious, dusty trip to the past

Is it worth the time?

Honestly, only if you’re a completionist for early French talkies or just really like the aesthetic of people in drawing rooms. If you’re looking for something tight, fast, or even particularly meaningful, you should probably skip this one. It’s the kind of movie that feels like it’s constantly waiting for something to happen that never actually arrives. 📽️

The pacing is… well, it’s glacial. You can practically hear the clock ticking on the wall behind the actors in some of these scenes. It makes you realize how spoiled we are with modern editing.

Oddly specific observations

• The way Max Dearly carries himself is almost like he’s trying to exit the screen at all times.
• There’s a lamp in the background of the parlor scene that seems to have more screen presence than the lead actor. It’s slightly crooked. It bothered me for ten minutes straight.
• Some of the lighting choices are just weird. One second everyone is bathed in a soft glow, and the next it looks like they’re being interrogated by a single desk lamp.

There are moments where L'amour et la veine feels like it’s trying to be a sophisticated comedy of errors, but it lacks the necessary bounce. It reminds me a bit of the stuffy, slow-burn energy in The Woman Racket, where the plot feels like it's being stretched like thin taffy.

I found myself zoning out during the long dialogue exchanges. It’s just people standing at slightly different angles to each other. They talk about love and money, but you never really feel the stakes. It’s all very polite and very, very boring.

Maybe if you’ve seen Asphalt, you’ll have a higher tolerance for these older, slower styles. But for me? This felt like a chore. You can tell the actors are giving it their best, but the script is just so thin. It’s like eating a sandwich made entirely of bread. No filling. Just bread.

I wouldn't say it's a disaster, though. It’s just… there. It exists. It takes up space on a hard drive somewhere. And sometimes, that’s all a movie from 1932 wants to do. 🤷‍♂️