When French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch first announced his new movie, Colours of Time, many expected a nostalgic drama. What we got instead was a reflective, poetic, and visually rich French period film, one that delicately stitches together two very different centuries—1895 and 2025—without ever feeling stitched at all.
Premiered at Cannes 2025, this colours of time film is structured like a double exposure: we follow Adèle Vermillard (portrayed with luminous restraint by Suzanne Lindon) as she seeks artistic freedom in Belle Époque Paris, while in the present, four estranged cousins rediscover her legacy through a crumbling house in rural Normandy.
Unlike many historical dramas, Colours of Time isn’t content with museum-piece visuals. Instead, it moves like memory—unreliable, immersive, full of emotion. The modern timeline doesn’t just mirror the past; it refracts it. In both eras, Klapisch interrogates what we inherit from our ancestors: not just houses or photographs, but ambitions, traumas, and unspoken desires.
StudioCanal’s production feels quietly grand. Normandy’s misty fields contrast with the riot of color in 1890s Montmartre, where we glimpse cultural icons like Monet, Nadar, and Sarah Bernhardt—figures who serve not as easter eggs, but as emotional foils. The present-day cast, led by Vincent Macaigne and Julia Piaton, offer grounded counterpoints to Adèle’s painterly journey.
Watch the Colours of Time Trailer
This is a film made for audiences tired of shallow spectacle. In a streaming era crowded with CGI and content churn, Klapisch delivers something rare: a thoughtful, artistic film about legacy and identity, with historical weight and contemporary relevance.
And it works. Colours of Time doesn’t beg for awards season buzz—it earns it with elegance.
Colours of Time premiered at Cannes 2025 and hits UK & Ireland cinemas on 29 August.
