Mauvais Sang is Leos Carax’s second movie, two years after Boys Meets Girl, whose success allowed the 25-year-old filmmaker to direct famous actors such as Michel Piccoli, as well as young talents like Juliette Binoche and Julie Delpy. The main character is once again portrayed by Denis Lavant, his partner in crime for his entire career. Mauvais Sang is a stunning masterpiece which multiplies references to many film directors – Godard in particular –, and seduces with its poetry and its lyricism, dazzles with its plastic richness and polished style. Consecrated by a eulogistic press as the 7th art’s Arthur Rimbaud, Leos Carax establishes himself as one of the greatest new French directors. But beyond its critical success, Mauvais Sang is above all a cult movie about the French 1980’s generation, marked by pop music, video art and the beginning of the AIDS years – a disease which this film is one of the first to allude to – announcing the death of this decade in its last excesses and poetic jolts.


"Let’s just say that Mauvais Sang is a total amazement. To speak of this film, we have to give meaning to words that have been a little bit tarnished, or mostly weakened: poetry, inspiration, dazzling shots, in a word: emotion."