Les Passagers de la Nuit

It is 1981 and just as the first socialist president of France, François Mitterand, is elected, Elisabeth (the radiant Charlotte Gainsbourg) is dumped by her husband and left to care for her two teenagers, Matthias and Judith, on her own. She gets a job on a night-time radio show, where she meets the wandering Talulah. She soon takes the young, displaced woman under her wing. Talulah discovers the warmth of a home and Matthias feels what it's like to be in love for the first time. As Elisabeth watches the youngsters, she will have to find her own worth and rediscover that life does have something to offer her… ‘French director Mikhaël Hers, who explored the way forward for his characters after destabilizing loss in films like 2018’s “Amanda,” reveals comparable tenderness and attention to illuminating detail in “The Passengers of the Night.” The life-changing event here is that of a woman being dumped by her husband and left to raise her teenage kids without financial support, played in a touching performance of crystalline emotional transparency by Charlotte Gainsbourg… This is a lovely minor-key character study that at its best reminded me of the Paul Mazursky classic, “An Unmarried Woman.”’—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter