In late August, Léna, 25, arrives in Arles to meet up with Marius from a past holiday romance. He’s late. Whilst waiting for him, she meets Maurice, a seasonal baker, who introduces her to his friend Ali, a nice guy who’s sometimes in Arles. Marius eventually turns up and all four of them bond over the chance encounter and spontaneous complicity, and meet up the following two summers in Normandy and then Ibiza. With light-hearted nonchalance, the film crystallises the magic of long summers in a sunny tableau with bright, shimmering colours, portraying the charm of footloose romance. The directors play around with the motifs of New Wave- inspired French cinema that enjoys recreating the variations of amorous banter. The conversations, interpreted by this quartet of jubilant actors, reveal youth caught between minor and major concerns – should they have children? Go out to sea? Follow love? Only Léna, navigating between the three boys, seems to know what she wants and where she’s going. Following in the wake of Jacques Rozier, Dying in Ibiza smells of sea air and salty spray. The sea, shot in its exquisite palette of blues from the English Channel to the Mediterranean, is omnipresent, a place of escapades, conquests and the promise of departure. While the film relies mainly on the authentic chatter and verve of its characters, speech gradually gives way to song. The trio of directors is anything but faint-hearted, going as far as capturing the energy of musicals to substitute the words with refrains that describe the emotions of journeys so well. Like Lena leaning against the rail of the ferry “that never stops not coming back”, to quote from a well-known French song, it’s with emotion and delight that we discover this promising work that’s gazing out to the horizon. (Louise Martin Papasian) Anton Balekdjian Léo Couture Mattéo Eustachon