Tragic Genius: Laurent Cantet’s Final Masterpiece Finished by Robin Campillo, Debuts at Cannes 2025

In 2024, the Directors’ Fortnight opened with the final film “My Life, My Face” by the late director Sophie Fillières, completed in her honor by her children. This year, this independent section of the Cannes Festival continues its tradition of opening with a tribute, for the 2025 edition.

This year, “Enzo” inaugurates the Directors’ Fortnight. This is the fifth and final feature film of Laurent Cantet, renowned for his works like “The Class” (Palme d’Or 2008), “The Workshop”, and “Human Resources”, and Robin Campillo (known for “The Returned”, “Eastern Boys”, “BPM (Beats Per Minute)”, and “Red Island”).

“Cinema Was Our Shared Friendship”

Originally, Laurent Cantet was set to direct this new project, initially titled “The Apprentice”. However, Cantet had been battling cancer, which ultimately claimed his life in April 2024. Following his passing, his long-time friend and collaborator Robin Campillo took over the direction of this posthumous film, which he co-wrote with Laurent Cantet.

“He had talked to me about this project three or four years ago,” Robin Campillo tells us, “Together with Gilles Marchand, they had drafted a twenty-page treatment, and I found the project both surprising and exciting. Laurent had his doubts about going forward with it. Then came his diagnosis—a very advanced stage of cancer. At that point, I told him: ‘Let’s proceed as before. I’ll write the screenplay with you, and support you throughout the prep, casting, and filming.’

Laurent Cantet passed away shortly before filming began. He had wanted to halt the project, but Robin Campillo and producer Marie-Ange Luciani convinced him to continue.

“We spoke with him at the hospital, along with Marie-Ange [Luciani, the producer], and told him: ‘We really want to make this film,'” Campillo shares, “His partner Isabelle also wanted to see the film made. So, it was a surreal but beautiful moment of reflection. I immediately told him: ‘I’m not sure I can make the film in exactly your style, but I’ll do it the best I can.’ We all went forward like good little soldiers—crew, cast, production. It was joyous to embark on this.”

Robin Campillo and Laurent Cantet had been friends for years. Campillo, who directed “BPM (Beats Per Minute)”, studied at the IDHEC film school in Paris with Laurent Cantet and collaborated with him multiple times as a co-writer and editor, including on “The Class”, the Palme d’Or winner in 2008.

It was natural for Robin Campillo to continue and complete “Enzo”, despite Laurent Cantet’s absence, which still pervades the film:

“Laurent and I shared a friendship based on cinema. Of course, we knew each other privately, but what united us was the making of films. He is so much a part of me. I feel like I was a big part of him as well. Friendship is a lot about silence and moving forward together without many questions. It’s hard for me to be sad because I feel like he’s just out of frame. But eventually, his absence will catch up with me.”

A French “Call Me By Your Name”?

“Enzo” is a drama centered on the titular 16-year-old who is an apprentice mason in La Ciotat. Pushed by his father, who envisioned a higher education for him, the young man seeks to escape the comfortable yet stifling confines of his family villa.

At the construction sites, he meets Vlad, a charismatic and older Ukrainian colleague. Through this new acquaintance, Enzo steps out of his comfort zone. He quickly realizes that life holds unexpected possibilities.

With its sublime Provençal setting, sculpted bodies under the blazing sun, and a young boy fascinated by an older man seeking to break free from his affluent yet loving family environment, “Enzo” echoes Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name”.

Like the Italian filmmaker’s work, “Enzo” is a poignant tale of a young boy’s emancipation, troubled by his first stirrings of affection, family rifts, and self-discovery against various forms of masculinity, including that of his father, portrayed by the deeply moving Pierfrancesco Favino.

Crafted with precision and a compassionate gaze, Laurent Cantet conceived a story of romantic and dream-like friendship/love, like an enchanting yet destructive mirage in the life of a boy. Through a significant encounter that alters and liberates him from certain burdens, Enzo discovers himself and carves his own path.

The young actor Eloy Pohu, who plays Enzo, possesses the same charisma and vigor as Timothée Chalamet and is likely to make waves in the future. This emerging talent is supported by his co-star Maksym Slivinskyi, also a newcomer, who is radiant and powerful.

And yet, don’t see this as an inspiration for “Enzo”. “I haven’t seen ‘Call Me by Your Name’,” admits Robin Campillo, “but I feel like I should watch it, maybe even should have watched it before writing the screenplay. Indeed, I’ve heard a lot about it. So, I’ll watch it and let you know. I believe Laurent hadn’t seen it either. We never discussed it. I need to see it.”

The Directors’ Fortnight runs from May 14 to May 22, 2025, in Cannes.

The film “Enzo” by Robin Campillo will be released in theaters on June 18th.