Film

Regular Lovers

Name: Regular Lovers
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2005
Cast: Louis Garrel, Clotilde Hesme, Nicolas Maury, Caroline Deruas, Eric Rulliat

Drama

Philippe Garrel's three-hour portrait of artistic youth in post-May '68 Paris. A young poet, his sculptor lover, and their circle drift through revolution's aftermath, caught between idealism and necessity. Glacial, sensual, alive to beauty and paralysis in equal measure. For those who prize mood and authenticity over plot.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love long, talky films where political idealism, opium-soaked afternoons and two people circling each other's ambitions matter as much as the plot, and you don't mind a story that drifts like a Paris afternoon.

Skip it if you want momentum, a clear through-line or a film that gets to the point; at three hours plus, its meandering pace and endless conversations will test even patient viewers.

What it asks of you: Three hours and three minutes of unhurried, mostly interior time, with long conversations and slow stretches in place of set pieces. You need to settle in and let it take its time.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Days of Being Wild1990

Wong Kar-wai's Hong Kong elegy about aimless youth, romantic obsession, and the search for meaning. Visually intoxicating, emotionally precise. The spiritual twin of Garrel's aesthetic sensibility.

But Extremely slow. Plot barely moves. If you need narrative momentum or closure, this will feel like waiting in beautiful traffic.

The Dreamers2003

Bernardo Bertolucci on cinephile lovers in Paris during the '68 uprising. Erotic, literary, obsessed with film history and desire. A kindred spirit made by someone Garrel knows.

But Explicit sexuality. Also three hours. Some find Bertolucci's romance with his own images self-indulgent rather than moving.

Naked1993

Mike Leigh's dark, brilliant study of a brilliant man adrift in London. Intellectually restless, sexually chaotic, oscillating between connection and contempt. Sharp where Garrel is dreamy, but similarly unsparing.

But Aggressively bleak. The lead character is often unbearable. Comedy and misery alternate without sentiment to cushion them.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Regular Lovers

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

My Night at Maud's1969

Both films are rooted in the exact moment of May '68's aftermath, capturing intellectuals grappling with meaning, commitment, and whether ideals survive contact with real life.

Rohmer's exquisite chamber piece: a Catholic engineer, his old friend, and the friend's lover spend one winter night talking about faith, desire, and choice. Made the same year Regular Lovers ends. Dialogue-driven, morally intricate, achingly intelligent.

But Nothing happens. Ninety-five minutes of conversation. If plot bores you, philosophy won't save it.

A Ghost Story2017

David Lowery's meditation on time, love, and what endures. Quiet, poetic, concerned with what remains after people leave. Builds power through accumulation and feeling rather than event.

But Deliberately paced. One scene runs nearly ten minutes. Emotional rather than narrative. Some will find it slight; others will find it everything.

Memories of Murder2003

Bong Joon-ho's 1980s Korea crime film that's really about frustration, complicity, and the weight of history on individuals. Formally inventive and achingly human throughout.

But Grim subject matter. Investigation goes unsolved. Tone shifts between investigation thriller and something more devastating.

Stalker1979

Tarkovsky's hypnotic science-fiction meditation on desire and meaning. A guide, a writer, and a soldier walk through a mysterious zone. Transformed by its own slowness into philosophy.

But 163 minutes of very, very slow cinema. Literally half is people walking and talking. You need patience bordering on faith.

Manchester by the Sea2016

Kenneth Lonergan on grief, love, and the life you're stuck with. Tender and tough. Refuses easy catharsis. A man returns to his past and finds no way out.

But Quiet depression. Relationships don't resolve tidily. The ending offers no redemption, only acceptance. Heavy.

I'm Still Here2010

Marcos Duarte on a character actor's decline in 1970s Rio. Obsessed with performance, ego, and the cost of artistic ambition. Brutal and pitch-black in its humor.

But Very bleak. Protagonist becomes increasingly hard to root for. Brazilian cinema vernacular may feel distant. No comfort offered.

Le Samouraï1967

Jean-Pierre Melville's ice-cold masterpiece about a contract killer's code. Formal perfection. Every frame deliberate. Style as the subject itself, not decoration.

But Slim plot. Melville's distance from his own character can feel cold rather than tragic. If you need warmth, don't come here.

Chungking Express1994

Both films center on romantic longing that cannot quite resolve into belonging. Both are as interested in the texture of existence—smoke, light, waiting—as in the characters themselves.

Wong Kar-wai's neon Tokyo fever dream about two cops and the women who barely touch their lives. Joyfully disjointed, visually intoxicated, heartbreaking in its loneliness. Pure cinema as feeling.

But Plotless. Deliberately confusing. Comes across as shallow to some. A showcase for style over substance—if you resist that, it collapses.