A Lesbian Figure Reshaping the Landscape of Contemporary French Cinema

Director Anna Cazenave Cambet’s adaptation of Constance Debré’s autobiographical novel reflects a growing trend in French cinema: bringing lesbian protagonists into the spotlight. In 2025, several notable films centered queer female leads, forming a kind of “lesbian-verse” reminiscent of interconnected superhero franchises. Actresses like Park Ji-Min—featured in both Love Me Tender and La Petite Dernière—and Monia Chokri, starring in Les Preuves d’amour, appear across these intersecting narratives. Their characters drift between meetings and near-misses from one story to the next, resembling fragments of a singular, reassembled life.

A Protagonist Torn Between Personal Struggle and Social Injustice

In Love Me Tender, Vicky Krieps embodies the lead role, once again embracing a character who defies conventional norms. She portrays a woman inspired by Constance Debré—a confident, free-spirited figure whose life is upended when she admits to her former partner that she now has relationships with women. This revelation sets off a legal battle that ultimately costs her custody of her child. Antoine Reinartz delivers a measured performance as the unyielding, punitive father. The film reveals a chilling truth: the judicial system, under the guise of neutrality, can become a tool of moral enforcement, punishing women who step outside traditional maternal roles.

Stylized Direction That Softens the Message

While the story invites empathy, its visual and narrative choices at times undermine the potency of its themes. In striving for a cinematic sincerity—glowing lightscapes, intimate nocturnal scenes, unfiltered nudity, subdued melancholy—the film slips into a predictable aesthetic. The recurring motifs of the so-called “lesbian-verse” begin to feel formulaic: late-night longing, urban wanderings, shared baths, aloof gestures. The pursuit of emotional truth yields a polished, even beautiful, direction—but this polish smooths away some of the story’s raw emotional texture.

An Emancipation Story Framed as a Social Break

Beyond its exploration of sexuality, Love Me Tender tackles the idea of voluntary social decline. Debré’s alter ego hails from a bourgeois background, yet she deliberately abandons a legal career in favor of a more precarious life rooted in literature and marginality. This act of class betrayal adds depth to the narrative, yet feels less incisive than its portrayal in À pied d’œuvre by Valérie Donzelli, released the same year. Donzelli’s film handles the tormented-artist archetype with a more nuanced and layered approach.

Conclusion: A Passionate Statement Struggling Against Its Own Tropes

Love Me Tender voices a powerful critique of a paternalistic and punitive system, while honoring the autonomy of a woman who refuses to fit the roles demanded of her. Yet its adherence to the stylistic conventions of contemporary auteur cinema hinders the full force of its message. Despite a compelling performance by Vicky Krieps and the urgency of its themes, the film vacillates between heartfelt defiance and overly crafted aesthetics. It remains an important piece—passionate, evocative—but somewhat constrained by the very genre it aims to disrupt.