Ismael's Ghosts

(2017)

★ 5.5 IMDb · 193 votes

Genres: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Year: 2017

Runtime: 111 мин

Country: France

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

Cast: Матьё Амальрик, Марион Котийяр, Шарлотта Генсбур, Луї Ґаррель, Альба Рорвахер, László Szabó, Hippolyte Girardot, Jacques Nolot, Catherine Mouchet, Samir Guesmi

Plot

Just as the disheveled and alcoholic filmmaker Ismaël embarks on a difficult new film project, his life is sent into a tailspin. His wife Carlotta, presumed dead for 20 years, come crashing back into his life creating chaos in his work and his current romantic relationship with the starry-eyed astronomer Sylvia.

Having run away twenty-one years ago, Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) is back out of the blue. Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) has been busy rebuilding a life for himself next to Sylvia (Charlotte Gainsbourg) while working on his next feature film. As Ismael's trials and tribulations unfurl, so do those of the main character of his film: the idle, funny and reckless diplomat Ivan Dédalus (Louis Garrel). The character is a nod to the ghost of another of Desplechin's creations, the brother of Paul Dédalus, three-time hero of "My Sex Life - or How I Got Into an Argument," "A Christmas Tale" and "My Golden Days." A film within a film - and then some, Desplechin layers narrative upon narrative. With ISMAEL'S GHOSTS, Desplechin returns once again to the past, creating film after film as his way of stepping back in time, and proving yet again that his brand of genius lies in his ability to find light in the darkest of places.