Moi qui t’aimais (C’est si bon !): Diane Kurys brings a legendary cinema couple back to life

The two artists never parted from their meeting on holiday in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in August 1949, until Simone Signoret’s passing in 1985 at the age of 64. Bound by their shared political convictions and unwavering love, they became one of the most iconic couples of the intellectual scene at the time. Despite Montand’s numerous infidelities — the most famous of which being with Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Let’s Make Love — Simone Signoret never left her husband.

In front of Diane Kurys’s camera, Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs embody these two cinema legends. This marks the eleventh time at Cannes for Zem, winner of a collective Award for Best Actor at the 2006 Festival de Cannes for Indigènes (Days of Glory). The actor is also present this year for 13 jours 13 nuits (13 Days 13 Nights) by Martin Bourboulon. The same goes for Marina Foïs, who walked the red carpet for La Femme la plus riche du monde (The Richest Woman in the World) by Thierry Klifa, alongside Isabelle Huppert.

As for the director, her last appearance at Cannes dates back to 1987, for Un homme amoureux (A Man in Love), which was then presented in Competition. Marked by films that are now cult classics, such as Diabolo menthe (Peppermint Soda) or Coup de foudre (Entre Nous), Diane Kurys’s filmography began with films inspired by her family history and her own adolescence, later shifting to biographical films about literary figures such as Sagan and Les Enfants du siècle (The Children of the Century). The common thread running through the filmmaker’s work is, precisely, mad love against all odds.