Les Amours d'Anaïs 2021 Movie Review

『A Journey of Love and Growth in Search of One’s True Self Amid Chaos』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Les Amours d'Anaïs (Anaïs in Love, 2021)
🌍 Country: 🇫🇷 France
🎞️ Genre: Romantic Comedy / Drama / Coming-of-Age
🗓️ Production & Release: SBS Distribution, 2021, Feature Film
⏳ Runtime: 91 min
📢 Director: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
🖋️ Screenplay: Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
📺 Platform: Theatrical release, later available on various VOD and streaming platforms

👩‍💼 Cast: Anaïs Demoustier – Anaïs
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – Émilie

🧩 Deep Story Analysis (Spoilers)

🎉 The Uncontrollable “Flame” of Anaïs

The entire narrative unfolds around Anaïs’s fierce energy and self-centered attitude.

• Constant motion and impulsivity: Anaïs is always late, endlessly talking, racing through Paris on her bike. Her life moves at “100 miles per hour,” and everything—from unfinished theses to unpaid rent and even an abortion decision—is handled with spontaneous, impulsive energy. To others, this can appear cold or selfish (e.g., her interactions with Raoul, her boyfriend, or with her landlord).
• Theme: The paradox of 17th-century “Passion”: Ironically, Anaïs is writing her PhD thesis on “passion” in 17th-century literature. This mirrors her own quest to find authentic passion in real life. Her chaotic love life stems from a deep-seated desire to be driven by desire.
• Survival through instability: Anaïs faces painful realities—her mother’s cancer relapse, financial hardship—but refuses to collapse. Instead, she activates a kind of survival mode, charging forward with cheerful defiance. Her charm and wit become both her defense mechanism and her weapon.

🌪 Structure of Romance: Discovering Desire, Not a Partner

The structure of Anaïs’s love story breaks away from the traditional triangle (Boy Meets Girl), becoming instead a journey to find the true object of her desire.

• Phase 1: Raoul (The dull past): Her ex-boyfriend Raoul represents comfort and stability, but for Anaïs, he lacks passion. She ends the relationship and moves on toward a space of her own.
• Phase 2: Daniel (Misguided satisfaction): Daniel, an older publisher, seems to offer emotional stability and intellectual depth. Yet their affair quickly reveals itself as passionless physicality. Anaïs soon recognizes Daniel not as a desire but as an escape hatch.
• Phase 3: Émilie (The ultimate object of desire): Daniel’s wife, novelist Émilie, becomes the magnetic center of Anaïs’s energy—a living embodiment of passion. Through Émilie’s writings, Anaïs feels a spiritual connection and chases her all the way to a rural literary symposium.

🌟 Intellectual Fascination and Shared Vibration

The connection between Anaïs and Émilie begins not with physical attraction but with intellectual fascination and a profound resonance.

• Beyond Daniel: Although Anaïs maintains a relationship with Daniel, she feels no true passion for him. Instead, while reading Émilie’s novel, she senses the same vibrations as her own inner world. This suggests that what she sought in Daniel was never “love,” but that she discovers real passion in Émilie’s intellect and existence.
• Projection of the ideal self: Émilie represents to Anaïs the kind of intelligent, autonomous, and liberated woman she aspires to become. Following Émilie to the countryside is not an act of blind pursuit but rather a pilgrimage of self-discovery.

👩‍❤️‍👩 Female-Driven Desire and “Natural” Love

The romance between the two women evolves with a distinctly female-driven energy, sharply contrasting Anaïs’s earlier relationships with men.

• Exploration without boundaries: After meeting Émilie, Anaïs doesn’t hide or suppress her emotions. Her impulsive honesty awakens something within Émilie, who begins to question her stable but stagnant relationship with Daniel.
• Physical union and emotional fulfillment: Their sexual relationship marks one of the film’s emotional peaks. Unlike previous encounters, this union conveys genuine satisfaction and passion, symbolizing the completion of intellectual resonance through physical desire. Through Émilie, Anaïs experiences the kind of “17th-century passion” she had only studied in theory.
• Depoliticizing queer romance: Their love is portrayed without identity conflict or social prejudice, marking a progressive step in queer storytelling. Rather than being labeled a “lesbian romance,” it emerges as a pure form of love—driven by chemistry and emotional need, not definition.

🌅 Eternal Motion and Unfinished Freedom

The relationship between Anaïs and Émilie doesn’t end in a neat “happily ever after,” aligning perfectly with the film’s themes.

• Refusal to settle: Anaïs resists stability; her life itself is eternal movement. Even though Émilie offers comfort and connection, Anaïs’s restless spirit suggests she will never remain bound by any relationship.
• Émilie’s role: Émilie becomes a catalyst for Anaïs’s self-awareness—a transformative experience that helps her realize the kind of life she wants to live. Once she learns this lesson, Anaïs is ready to move forward.
• A new beginning: The film ends as Anaïs says goodbye to Émilie and rides away on her bicycle. Reenergized by love, she embarks on another uncertain but free journey. For her, love is not about possession but about experience and discovery.

The relationship between Anaïs and Émilie embodies the film’s central message: “A woman has the right to pursue her desires, and only by expressing them freely can she experience true passion.”

👩 Female Autonomy and Queer Romance

This film offers a refreshing depiction of modern women’s independent desires and queer love.

• Female agency: Anaïs neither hides nor feels guilt about her desires. Whether in choosing partners or deciding on an abortion, she acts with complete autonomy, unconcerned with social judgment. Male characters (Raoul, Daniel) remain peripheral, while female ones (Anaïs, Émilie) drive the story’s emotional and narrative depth.
• Natural portrayal of queer romance: Their relationship unfolds without identity crises or social backlash. It is propelled purely by intellectual, emotional, and physical chemistry, showing that love transcends orientation—it’s about finding the person who most powerfully awakens your passion.
• Space and liberation: The film’s setting expands from a cramped Paris apartment to Brittany’s open landscapes and vast seashores. This spatial expansion mirrors Anaïs’s inner liberation and self-realization.

🎞️ The Alluring “Destroyer” and Her Self-Discovery

Anaïs in Love is far from a neat or orderly romance. Anaïs can be selfish or exasperating, yet her magnetic, uncontrollable energy captivates the viewer. The film paints a vivid portrait of a 30-something woman who is unfinished yet fearless, reminding us that the act of seeking passion and self-understanding is itself the truest form of love. In the end, Anaïs finally embraces a life guided not by others, but by her own inner desire.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥♥♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★