This film is part of our series BUITENBEENTJES: CAST OUT, showing in January and February at De Uitkijk.
Paris, 1990s. A homeless artist with rapidly deteriorating vision (Juliette Binoche) and a drug-addicted street performer (Denis Lavant) form a unique and unconventional relationship. On the Pont-Neuf, Paris’s oldest bridge—closed for construction—these two drifting souls find love and temporary refuge.
The making of this film was a turbulent process for Leos Carax, the enfant terrible of French arthouse cinema, involving considerable controversy and an even greater amount of money. It became the most expensive film in French cinema history. The Lovers on the Bridge (or Les Amants du Pont-Neuf) portrays an intensely moving romantic tale between two outcasts, accompanied—both literally and figuratively—by spectacular fireworks.