Typically French, the well-hee­led intellec­tu­als in Non-Fiction: if they’re not tal­king one ano­ther’s ears off, they’re jum­ping into bed tog­e­ther. Olivier Assayas has no trou­ble at all making a fresh, fun­ny film from such mate­ri­al. His cha­rac­ters may come over as pom­pous – and at times insuf­fera­ble – but this come­dy dra­ma is any­thing but.

Publisher Alain (Guillaume Canet) and his wife Selena (Juliette Binoche) are doing their best to adapt to modern life. He is forced to coope­ra­te in the digi­ti­sa­ti­on of the publi­shing sec­tor, while she – once a stage actress – is acting in a long-run­ning poli­ce series on tele­vi­si­on. With their fri­ends, who include aut­hor Léonard (Vincent Macaigne), they dis­cuss the chan­ges taking place in their working lives. But is ever­y­thing not just stay­ing the same, real­ly? Assayas seems incre­asing­ly cri­ti­cal of his prot­ago­nists; they are far too wrap­ped up in them­sel­ves to see whe­re they should be heading.