Cannes Hidden Gem: Among the many titles showcased at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Enzo has emerged as a quietly powerful gem — not just for its nuanced storytelling but for what it represents: a posthumous farewell from Palme d’Or-winning director Laurent Cantet, lovingly completed by his longtime collaborator and friend, Robin Campillo.
“It’s really a film from Laurent Cantet and by Laurent Cantet. I did the job, in a way, but it’s really a film from him and I think it’s a victory against death that this film exists.” – (Campillo)
A Film Completed in Friendship and Grief
Cantet, best known for his sharp social commentaries like The Class (which won the Palme d’Or in 2008), had penned and planned to direct Enzo — his 18th film — before a sudden cancer diagnosis halted production. As his health rapidly declined in early 2024, Cantet passed the directorial baton to Campillo, director of BPM (Beats Per Minute) and a close creative partner since 1983.
“I was going to be in every step of making the film.” – (Campillo)
“The casting, the preparation, and the shooting, because we were afraid that [Cantet] would be too tired to talk to the cameramen, to the technicians. So I would be like an assistant, but a very personal assistant… I was going to edit the film with him [too], but just after the casting, he got sick very quickly and he died very quickly.” – (campillo)
Working alongside Cantet’s wife, Isabelle, and producer Marie-Ange Luciani, Campillo completed the film in a deeply personal act of creative loyalty.
“Before he died, we talked together when he was in the hospital, and we decided, with his wife Isabelle and the producer, Marie-Ange Luciani, we told him that we would be very pleased to finish the film for him. And he was, I think, very touched by that.” – (Campillo)
What Enzo Is About
The film follows Enzo, a 16-year-old boy (played by newcomer Eloy Pohu) who chooses a masonry apprenticeship over the academic path his bourgeois family expects. But the story quickly deepens — exploring not just class conflict, but identity, desire, and freedom in a disorienting modern world.
“You have to choose very quickly what you are going to do in your life.” – (campillo)
Enzo eventually falls in love with Vlad, an older Ukrainian man he meets on the construction site. But the romance, Campillo stresses, is less about rebellion for its own sake and more about authenticity — a desire to leave behind the performance of privilege and step into the messier truth of life.
“I think for Laurent, there was a thing that he liked about young people — they are sexually fluid. Enzo… It’s not because he finds [Vlad] sexy, it’s because he’s a guy who wants to get out of his own family. He doesn’t want to stay in his very bourgeois make-believe situation. He wants to go behind the curtain to see the backstage. So, this love story is connected to his will to confront reality.” – (campillo)
A Timely Message for a Chaotic World
Campillo notes that Enzo is about more than just one boy’s personal awakening — it speaks to the pressure young people feel today to define themselves in a chaotic, uncertain world:
“And it’s a mess — Ukraine, Gaza, all this violence, the elections in [the U.S.]. We are in a very difficult moment… And we ask young people to [know exactly] what they want to do, who they want to be. But we have a messy world to promote and promise to them.” – (campillo)
A Celebration, Not a Eulogy
Despite being a film born of tragedy, Enzo is, in Campillo’s words, luminous. Its Cannes premiere is not just a showcase of new talent or an addition to Cantet’s formidable legacy — it’s a gathering of friends and colleagues to honor his vision.
“I think Cannes is the right place [for Enzo]. The audience will be a lot of [Cantet’s] friends, a lot of people that he’s worked with in the cinema industry. It’s not a dark film, it’s luminous. It will be like a feast and, I think, something very joyful.” – (campillo)
