Movie Review—Olivier Assayas’s “Non-Fiction” with Juliette Binoche

Non-Fiction
Directed by Olivier Assayas
Opened May 3, 2019 in New York
ifcfilms.com

Juliette Binoche in Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction

Although not up to his best films (Les Destinées sentimentales, Summer Hours, Something in the Air), Non-Fiction—the latest from writer-director Olivier Assayas—is a vast improvement upon his immediately preceding disasters, The Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper.

It might or might not be because he’s rid of Kristen Stewart, but Non-Fiction finds Assayas in a playful, even breezy mode, similar to Late August Early September, his 1998 roundelay of college students and professors which was made in a very different time: no internet, no cell phones, no digital world. 

Non-Fiction (Doubles Vies, or Double Lives, in French), whose characters live in the worlds of publishing and performing, revolves around Léonard, a best-selling novelist whose books are thinly-veiled autobiographical recountings of his various affairs, including the one he’s having with Selena, a famous actress—who happens to be married to Léonard’s publisher, Alain. Alain begins sleeping with Laure, a younger, “hip” digital consultant who lives with her girlfriend. Léonard’s wife, Valérie, is a left-wing political operative who seemingly lives on a different planet, personally and professionally, from her cheating husband.

These characters intersect in cafes, offices and (mainly) beds; Assayas knows this is lightweight stuff, but he has fun with it. There are nods toward profundity and dissecting how digital media has overtaken our lives—our relationships, our work, our politics—but for the most part, Assayas and his cast have made a quintessentially French rom-com that’s diverting enough. There’s even a plethora of in-jokes, like Léonard and Selena preferring to say that she performed fellatio on him while they were at the cinema watching The White Ribbon, not The Force Awakens, and Selena is asked about actress Juliette Binoche, the ultimate meta reference.

Binoche is, as always, casually charming and winning; her Selena remains the center of attention even when the spotlight shines on the others. Too bad Guillaume Canet (Alain) and Vincent Macaigne (Léonard) don’t bring much dimension to their roles, somewhat muddying the waters about why any of these attractive, intelligent women would be interested in them. But that quibble doesn’t detract from the fact that, even though it’s a minor film in his canon, Non-Fiction is miles ahead of the metaphysical bunk Olivier Assayas has dabbled in lately.