Dir: Cédric Klapisch | France, Drama. 2025
A clever idea to explore a hundred and twenty five years of France’s cultural past and present from the perspective of a family who inherit a house in 19th century house in Normandy and discover their links to Impressionism.
Colours of Time sashays seamlessly between the 1870s and the modern day to show how much life has changed and become less grounded in simple pleasures.
Suzanne Lindon follows her impressive debut in Spring Blossom to play Adele Meunier a modest young woman who sets out from the depths of the countryside to find her mother (Sarah Giradeau) in 1870s Paris only to make a shocking discovery.
Meanwhile in the present day her descendants, bee-keeper Guy Vincent McCaigne, office worker Celine (Julia Piaton), teacher Abdel (Zinedine Soualem) and online creator Seb (Abraham Wapler) find themselves fighting to save Adele’s old house from demolition to provide space for a carpark. Cécile de France makes a brief appearance as an art historian Calixte, along with colourful characters from the past including Sarah Bernhardt, Nadar, a pioneering photographer, and even Claude Monet (Olivier Gourmet).
Adele shares the Montmartre lodgings with two artists she meets on her riverboat journey to Paris, painter Anatole (Kircher) and photographer Lucien (Vassili Schneider), and marvels at the newly built Eiffel tower and the rather more seedy side of the Belle Epoque era.
Paris glows luminously (with a touch of CGI) in this nostalgic reverie its past artistic tradition with a delightfully droll final scene where Monet invites Adele to stay at nearby Giverny where he is contemplating his next canvas. @MeredithTaylor
UK and Irish Cinemas from 29 August 2025