PARIS IS A PROMISE. YOUTH IS A DEADLINE.

Selected for Letterboxd Video Store by guest curator Richard Linklater

Three young Parisians drift through precarious jobs, half-formed romances, and the intoxicating freedom of early adulthood. While a summer escape to Corsica offers a break from routine and the demands of their toxic jobs, their friendships and desires begin to fracture under the weight of reality waiting back home.

Often overshadowed by its better-known contemporaries, Adieu Philippine is one of the French New Wave’s great hidden treasures. The debut feature from Jacques Rozier, coined “the youngest film of the New Wave” by Jean-Luc Godard, was shot largely with nonprofessional actors and shaped through improvisation. The film captures the restless energy of early-1960s Paris with a spontaneity that later defined the movement. Its reputation has steadily grown over decades through critical reappraisal, positioning it today as one of the era’s essential rediscoveries.

In French with English subtitles available.