Love Letters (Des preuves d’amour)

😁 Love Letters (Des preuves d’amour), dir. Alice Douard, 2025, France, 96 min., in French with English subtitles
Thursday, June 18, 2026, 8:30 PM, New Parkway, Oakland
🌉 Bay Area premiere

Love Letters (Des preuves d’amour)

Frameline blurb: Set in 2014 — just after same-sex marriage became legal in France — this incisive drama centers on newlyweds Céline (Ella Rumpf, Raw) and Nadia (Monia Chokri, Heartbeats), who are expecting their first child. As the non-birthing parent, Céline sets out to collect a series of letters of support as the final administrative hurdle before she is allowed to adopt her soon-to-be-born child.

From bureaucratic nightmares to awkward confrontations with her own estranged mother (the always wonderful Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Rewinds) to spending time with fellow hapless parents-to-be, Céline reevaluates her feelings about motherhood and what, exactly, makes one a “good” parent. A heartfelt personal drama rivered with moments of self-discovery, writer/director Alice Dourad’s critical darling from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival is a deeply poignant love story — one about the enduring relationship between Céline and Nadia, but also the evolving one between Céline and herself.

My take: Céline and Nadia are now legally married, but in terms of the child’s parenting, Céline has zero rights until and unless she completes the adoption process, a lengthy and expensive legal obstacle course that requires testimonials from family and friends attesting to Céline’s connection to the baby. Céline’s mother is a famous concert pianist, but doesn’t seem to know how to do warmth and affection other than coaxing those feelings from a Steinway Grand, and she also doesn’t seem to understand what is required in these letters of support. Nadia’s family have issues of their own, and the couple’s friends have varying degrees of ignorance and occasionally homophobia.

You feel Céline’s anxiety and frustration with the legal process and the friction it introduces into her marriage with Nadia, as well as the pitfalls of getting the letters from family and friends. It’s a character-driven drama (aw, shucks, no car chases with Jason Bourne!) with carefully built characters and circumstances giving rise to authentic dialogue. Definitely highly recommended for all audiences, and a must see for same-sex couples considering having children.

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