Adapted from the eponymous novel by Constance Debré, Love Me Tender, in theaters this Wednesday, December 10, offers a story as moving as it is luminous, in which lesbianism appears as a lifeline. One of our favorite cinema picks of the year.
After a summer dinner, Clémence confides to her ex-husband her relationships with other women. In the days that follow, he initiates a legal procedure to strip her of custody of their child. Adaptation of Constance Debré’s autofictional novel, Love Me Tender explores the tug-of-war of a woman between her obvious wish not to be cut off from her child and her legitimate desire to freely explore her sexuality. “I don’t know to what extent the ex-husband is homophobic, but he uses against her levers that are, in any case, the ones that are,” explains the film’s director, Anna Cazenave Cambet. He points to everything he deems deviant in her: her homosexuality, her readings, the queer milieu in which she moves…”
Sublimé par une radiant Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread, More Than Ever) incandescente, the character of Clémence is a woman who asserts the existence of her plural identities as artist, mother, and lesbian without apologizing for them. “I wanted to show this blend of strength, modesty, and fragility”, explains the director, who enjoyed sketching “a somewhat troubled heroine” who cuts against the usual maternal representations. A character who borrows as much from Constance Debré’s experiences as from her own: “It seemed to me that the identity of mother was always presented as unique and sufficient. When I myself became a mother, I found that suffocating, because I have other identities: I am an artist, I am a queer person… And I do not have to choose between these different facets!”
Facing the pressures Clémence endures, and facing an absurd judicial machine, lesbianism acts as a liberation, flourishing and tumultuous. In the company of other women, Clémence relives, smiles, breathes, and vibrates. While it captivates with the complexity of its heroine, the film also convinces with the grace of its sex scenes, one of which does not hesitate to show a strap-on dildo.
“To cross certain funding thresholds, we asked ourselves to what extent we could leave this in the screenplay, admits Anna Cazenave Cambet. But I was keen on this image because it pairs softness with an object that is often linked to something rather hardcore. It is a part of lesbian sexuality that I wanted to show.” And what if we ended 2025 with one of the best films of the year?
