Etienne, a serious and shaggy-haired young cinephile, leaves behind his girlfriend in Lyon to study film in Paris. Settling into a dingy flat, he immerses himself in a bohemian world of artists, intellectuals, and film geeks. It’s a seemingly idyllic life—until more complicated matters intrude.

Imbued with the cinephilic spirit of Philippe Garrel, this bittersweet portrait of Parisian film students looks back to the fervor of ’68 and forward to a city in transition. In perfectly moody monochrome, director Jean Paul Civeyrac captures the highs and lows of a most sentimental education.