Pour être aimé: A Dusty Look at Love

Is it worth the watch?

If you're looking for a brisk, modern watch, keep scrolling. This one is for the folks who get a kick out of 1930s dialogue and don't mind when a movie feels like it’s being held together by stage plays and sheer willpower.

If you have zero patience for old-fashioned melodrama, you’ll probably find this thing painfully slow. It’s not exactly The Daredevil in terms of pacing.

Notes from the screen

The whole thing feels like a collection of polite conversations that suddenly turn into mini-crises. Paulette Dubost is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, even when the script gives her almost nothing to actually do.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Pour être aimé (1933) through its definitive frames.

There is this one moment in the second act—I won't say which—where the camera just sits on a character’s face for about five seconds too long. You can literally see them trying to remember their next line. It’s kind of endearing, honestly.

Bits and bobs

• The lighting is very... 1930s stage-lit. Everyone looks like they’re being followed by a spotlight.
• The background extras in the café scenes have this weird habit of just standing there like statues.
• Some of the dialogue hits hard, then some of it just lands with a thud.

It’s not as chaotic as Heebie Jeebies, thank god. It stays in its lane.

Honestly, the movie feels a lot like Searching for Fate in its desperation, but with way more talking. Maybe too much talking? I don’t know. Sometimes I just wanted them to stop explaining their feelings and just... walk out the door. 🚪

Don't go in expecting a masterpiece. Go in expecting a time capsule that’s a little cracked around the edges. It’s fine. It’s just fine.