Belgian filmmaker Fabrice de Welz has revealed that Abdelatif Kechiche’s “‘Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” will finally get released in France, more than four years after its polarizing screening at Cannes. No other details were given.
It’ll most probably not be the Cannes cut, which was close to 3 and a half hours in length. A French source had told me in 2020 that Kechiche was editing a new version of “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo,” a version that completely erased actress Ophélie Bau from the movie.
The decision to release this latest cut would be a mind-boggling thing to do, especially considering that Bau has the most screen time of any of the actors in ‘Intermezzo’ and is the highlight of the movie.
There were various accusations that Kechiche was subjected to post-screening at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Specifically, an anonymous source telling the pages of French publication Midi Libre that the director purposely inebriated Bau in order for her to perform the infamous non-simulated 13-minute sex scene.
I was a fan of “Intermezzo” when I saw it at Cannes 2019, writing “212-minute cinematic revolution. It means to destroy our notion of what a movie should be in 2019 …"Intermezzo" is the darker, more ambitious companion to "Canto Uno." It can feel overwrought at times, but the urban naturalism Kechiche pushes for is damn-near breathtaking to behold.”
Kechiche has always had a keen eye for the way people speak and act in real life. As you watch these two Mektoub films, you do wonder how much of it is improvisation, how much of it is written dialogue and how much of it may very well have been actually experienced on camera. That blurring of the lines is absolutely fascinating to watch in this film.