Cold Water

Director: Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas, Olivier Assayas

1994 / 92min / DCP

Assayas revisits the scene of his own teen years, the early ’70s, in a film à clef that exemplifies all of the anguish and exhilaration of youth, orbiting a couple (Judith Godreche and Cyprien Fouquet) who escape the stifling expectations of their families in rock ’n’ roll, rebellion, and heedless hedonism. The last-named item is exemplified in the film’s stunning centerpiece scene, a rollicking party at an abandoned house in the woods shot with a camera that bobs and weaves through the festivities like a restless guest, capturing bits of offhand poetry as the kids pass around bottles and joints.