Arnaud Desplechin (Ma vie sexuelle, France 1996)

Arnaud Desplechin perfectly captures the heady milieu of graduate school—sex, rivalry, parties, term papers, rambling conversations—in this keenly funny and exceedingly intelligent film about Paul, a 29-year-old assistant professor of philosophy. Played by a youthful Mathieu Amalric, Paul is that recognizable soul who overthinks everything and whose disappointments loom much larger than his successes. He has a longtime devoted lover but finds himself pursuing other romantic entanglements, including one with his best friend's girlfriend. Meanwhile, a former classmate with whom Paul had a now-forgotten argument is coming to his university as a full professor. And he’s bringing his pet monkey! Using an omniscient narrator to provide acute psychological details on the various characters, Desplechin and his cowriter Emmanuel Bourdieu fully examine the neuroses and odd attachments of Paul and his circle of friends. Chosen as one of the best films of the year by the Village Voice, Newsday, and the New York Post, and featuring other then-unknowns such as Emmanuelle Devos, Jeanne Balibar and Marion Cotillard, My Sex Life . . . is an epic look at people on the edge of adulthood but scared to death of the potential abysses lying below.

Written by Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu. Photographed by Stéphane Fontaine, Eric Gautier. With Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Marion Cotillard, Jeanne Balibar (178 min. Zeitgeist Films, print courtesy Celluloid Dreams).

October 11, 12:30 pm, Landmark's Clay Theatre