{"id":117563,"date":"2025-09-16T11:55:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=117563"},"modified":"2025-09-16T13:12:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:12:46","slug":"scrutiny-tiff-2025-arnaud-desplechins-two-pianos-captures-fragile-pianists-long-awaited-return-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/09\/16\/scrutiny-tiff-2025-arnaud-desplechins-two-pianos-captures-fragile-pianists-long-awaited-return-home\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | TIFF 2025: Arnaud Desplechin\u2019s Two Pianos Captures A Fragile Pianist\u2019s Long-Awaited Return Home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A scene from the film Two Pianos (Photo: Emmanuelle Firman – Why Not Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Artists are stubborn creatures, resisting control by anyone but themselves.<\/p>\n

In Two Pianos, directed by Arnaud Desplechin<\/strong> and co-written by Kamen Velkovsky<\/strong>, Mathias Vogler (Fran\u00e7ois Civil<\/strong>) is a pianist returning to perform in his hometown of Lyon at the invitation of his former mentor, Elena Auden (Charlotte Rampling<\/strong>), after a long stint hiding away and establishing a career in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to escape,\u201d he tells his manager Max (Hippolyte Girardot<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Not long after he arrives does he learn that Elena, despite the icy, steely fa\u00e7ade that Rampling imbues in all her characters, is suffering from early signs of dementia, and the concerts they are set to perform will be her last \u2014 if either of them can get through them without breaking down.<\/p>\n

For Mathias, who, at first, red pencil in hand to mark up a score, is completely committed to his craft, an encounter with a former lover, Claude (Nadia Tereszkiewicz<\/strong>), causes him to suddenly collapse, as though he has encountered a ghost, and relapse after years of dedicated sobriety.<\/p>\n

In fact, rather than Mathias, the film opens with Claude, and her husband Simon (Jeremy Lewin<\/strong>), who engrossingly, and entertainingly, tells her a story about the importance of faith, which becomes relevant later on when Simon suddenly dies, leaving a gap for Mathias to fill.<\/p>\n

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A scene from the film Two Pianos (Photo: Emmanuelle Firman – Why Not Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Themes & Ideas<\/h3>\n

Desplechin\u2019s previous films, such as A Christmas Tale and My Golden Days, are notable for the way they seamlessly intertwine various characters and plots without feeling contrived, and despite its abrupt narrative progressions, Two Pianos, with its amiable tone and autumnal palette provided by Paul Guilhaume<\/strong>\u2019s cinematography, achieves a similar feat.<\/p>\n

With Claude, the audience is privy to the way that one experiences grief as a widow, and the internal conflict of being in love with and desiring two men simultaneously.<\/p>\n

With Elena, we see the ways that an artist, suffering from aging and the looming presence of death, resists losing possession of the very gift that they have used to make a life.<\/p>\n

But it is Mathias who receives the most development, who we watch struggle to perform at the piano \u2014 \u201cRubato,\u201d Elena says, \u201cNot legato\u201d \u2014 who can\u2019t resist taking another shot, who becomes obsessed with following around the son (Valentin Picard<\/strong>) who uncanny resembles him.<\/p>\n