Film

A Faithful Man

Name: A Faithful Man
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: 2018
Cast: Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Lily-Rose Depp, Joseph Engel, Dali Benssalah

A Faithful Man is a nimble French romantic comedy about second chances and the wreckage they leave behind. Abel gets a second shot with his ex-wife Marianne after her lover Paul dies, but eight years have reshaped both of them into people the other barely recognizes. It's lean, darkly funny, and genuinely interested in how desire and resentment coexist.

TMDb rating

2.8

If you liked this

Before Sunset2004

Richard Linklater's film uses a single long conversation between two exes to excavate what they've become. Like A Faithful Man, it understands that reunion isn't restoration—it's collision between who you were and who you are now.

But It's 80 minutes of talk in a car and on a walk. If you need plot momentum or spectacle, this will feel static.

High Fidelity2000

A man revisits his exes and realizes the problem was never them—it was him. Both films find comedy and pain in the gap between how we remember relationships and the actual human wreckage.

But The rom-com machinery is more visible here, and the ending feels more conventional than A Faithful Man's messier conclusion.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being1988

Kundera's adaptation moves through multiple lovers and emotional states, haunted by the question of whether returning to someone means anything. It shares the same philosophical restlessness about commitment and desire.

But It's slow, cerebral, and deeply sad. The 1980s aesthetic hasn't aged gracefully, and some will find it pretentious.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Worst Person in the World2021

Both are European films that refuse to resolve romantic pain as tragedy or triumph—they just observe it as life happening.

Joachim Trier's film moves through a woman's loves and ambitions, treating romantic failure as part of a larger becoming rather than a conclusion. It's gentler than A Faithful Man but asks identical questions about who we're supposed to be.

But It's nearly three hours and Norwegian. The pacing won't suit anyone who wants momentum.

Certified Copy2010

An Iranian-Swiss drama where a man and woman who've just met spend a day together, slipping into and out of being married. Like A Faithful Man, it's obsessed with how relationships are performances we keep trying to get right.

But It's deliberately puzzling and won't resolve itself clearly. If you need certainty about what happened, you'll leave frustrated.

Heartbeats2010

Xavier Dolan's debut about two friends who fall for the same magnetic stranger captures the jealousy, desire, and friendship collapse that A Faithful Man explores, just with a different triangle.

But Dolan's baroque emotional intensity and constant camera movement can feel exhausting. Some will find the melodrama overwrought.

Moulin Rouge!2001

A love story built on performance, deception, and the question of whether you can trust what you're being shown. Both films understand that desire isn't clean or rational.

But It's aggressively maximalist in every direction. If you prefer subtlety, this will feel like being hit repeatedly with a sequined bat.

Passion2013

De Palma's film spirals around workplace desire and murder, asking whether we can ever really know the people we want. It's darker and more dangerous than A Faithful Man, but philosophically aligned.

But It's cynical, sexually explicit, and doesn't pretend to like any of its characters. Some will find it nasty.

The Girlfriend Experience2016

Both films are fascinated by the gap between the feeling and the performance, and whether there's any meaningful difference.

Soderbergh's miniseries about a woman performing intimacy for money treats relationships as labor and performance. The connection to A Faithful Man isn't obvious, but both ask: what are we actually doing when we say we love someone?

But It's deliberately cool and detached. The minimalism and the sex work premise will alienate plenty of viewers.