It is the early 1990s in Heillange, a small industrial town in Eastern France. The weather is extremely hot and testosterone is brewing inside 14-year-old Anthony (Paul Kircher, of Christophe Honore’s 2022 Winter Boy) and his slightly older cousin. Bored of playing videogames, they rob a canoe and row towards the nude beach on the local lake, where they fail to come across any naked women. No genitalia at sight, or even a little nipple. Nevertheless, the talkative males befriend the charming and good-looking Steph and Clem, who invite them to join a house party later in the day. Anthony borrows his father’s vintage motorcycle in order to reach the distant villa where the alcohol-fuelled festivities take place. His cousin jumps on the back. Young Moroccan Hacine (Sayyid El Alami) steals the vehicle while Anthony and his cousins jump in the pool and socialise with the countless young women.

The problem is that Anthony never asked for his father’s permission, and his old man values his bike ahead of his son and beautiful wife. Anthony and mum rush to locate the relic before daddy realises it is missing and sparks fly. The consequences of their actions are a very dear for both Anthony and Hacine. The thief’s father has a shocking punishment in store for his only son. The summer culminates in multiple separations and a fire that claims an entire family. The paths of Anthony and Hacine intersect and collide multiple times as the years go by. The movie is roughly divided into four parts: in the years of 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998 (when Anthony reaches the age of 20).

The complexity of And Their Children After Them relies on Kircher’s and Hacine’s round characters. Neither Anthony nor Hacine is entirely good or evil. Both come from vaguely dysfunctional families, yet their lives have not been without love. They suffer under the ennui of adolescence, and both are prepared to engage in petty criminal activity in order to achieve their short term objectives. This may be their next beer, their next date, or another token of social acceptance. This is a chauvinistic society where young males are expected to feign moral strength and social status. Their relationship to their respective father is also a central pillar. The two middle-aged men are very harsh in different ways, but they are also prepared to seek the affection of their respective sons. The challenge is that proud Anthony and Hacine aren’t always willing to reciprocate.

Adapted from the eponymous 2018 novel by Nicolas Mathieu, And Their Children After Them is a thoroughly auspicious film on many levels. It is finely acted, elegantly shot, and tastefully scored. Not a single actor delivers a mediocre performance. The sultry French summer is shining and exuberant under Augustin Barbaroux’s lens. Amaury Chabauty’s vibrant notes add a touch of tenderness and adrenaline to the story, which also boats the Red Hot Chilly Peppers’s Under the Bridge and a piano rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.

Despite the unquestionable technical and artistic achievements, Zoran and Ludovic Boukherma’s fourth feature film together (the two directors are twin brothers) is not entirely gripping. At times, it feels like the movie skipped over large passages of the book, resulting in countless plot holes. Separations and reconnections are very abrupt. The way several relationships are terminated and then inexplicably rekindled is particularly awkward. And there are some entirely redundant parts, such as a scene in which Anthony and his cousin visit a powerful drug lord in order to locate the missing motorbike. The heavily addicted and unpleasant man snorts copious amounts of cocaine, and then massages the powder in to his dog’s gums (so they can trip together). This interaction neither makes sense nor serves a narrative function.

To boot, social commentary about the declining steel works industry and its impact on the population goes amiss. There is a suggestion that the demise of the industry plants is responsible for poverty and family dysfunction, yet this is never examined in a more profound or even coherent manner. We see Anthony hop from job to job (including a short stint in an indoors ski resort, a bizarre municipal initiative created in order to make up for the declining opportunities elsewhere), yet his financial hardship never seems that pressing. Heillange looks quaint and charming, with a few ugly sites, yet never the picture of socioeconomic disaster.

And Their Children After Them just premiered in the Official Competition of the 81st Venice International Film Festival. A pleasant, partly satisfying watch. Worth a viewing if you have 144 minutes (nearly two hours and a half) to spare. Also showing in the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.