Cannes 2025 (Directors’ Fortnight): Enzo (dirs. Laurent Cantet, Robin Campillo) | Review
Enzo opened the Quinzaine with a tender, quietly powerful portrait of a young adult seeking his place.
Enzo, written by late Palme d’Or winner Laurent Cantet (The Class, 2008), who passed away before filming began, and completed by director Robin Campillo, opened the 57th Directors’ Fortnight. The feature follows Enzo (Eloy Pohu), a 16-year-old boy on the brink of adulthood who is trying to escape his well-settled, comfortable and stifling elite home while looking at options of having a career in masonry or construction where he works during his holidays. What interests Enzo more is his growing friendship with Ukrainian colleague Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi) on the construction site.
The film then begins on a note of discovery each day for the young boy, adding to the sensible yet touching upon the ambiguities of the sexual desires and urge to be free from comfort and added pressure to behave in a certain elite way, with Enzo’s family being in the top tier of educated, established families.
The opening shot of the film of Enzo working on a construction site begins by telling us that this boy has never really worked hard in his life, with blisters on his hands and uninterested in learning the skills, but his interest is piqued with the growing camaraderie with Vlad who somehow comes across as a kind, helpful hunk of a young man. Vlad then becomes Enzo’s quest and, in a certain way, a kind of sexual awakening, understanding what he craves. Of course, nowhere in the film does it tell us that this is a coming-of-age or coming out film, but rather lets the audience decide for themselves.
16 is an age which is a curious age where realities can hit one very hard, just as Enzo has lived a very sheltered, comfortable life. With Vlad, he realizes the intensity of war and political upheaval, of living with constant fear of being sent back, that makes Enzo question his existence and his style of living; again the director makes subtle suggestions about the viewpoint of youth today towards the ongoing conflicts while the adults don’t necessarily share the same views. Enzo, played by Pohu, brings out the sensitivity, that uncertainty that today’s youth have brilliantly, while Vlad adds a touch of the macho sensitivity and to the flirty, cocky style that attracts and gives a feeling of confidence that could make any adolescent look up to.
The film intends to make you wonder what made Enzo reflect on this divide and the insecurity in his young life, while leaving you wondering what life will offer to Enzo as the film ends with him on the phone with Vlad…
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