“I think we should make a film about us”, Simone Signoret suggests to her circle of friends in this biopic that traces the last 12 years of her marriage to Yves Montand. “Our lives, our fights. It would be very sad and very funny” Moi qui t'aimais (The One I Loved), certainly has its fair share of fights, and it's also very sad. However, the instances of humour are few and far between.

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The biopic opens with the unique conceit of the lead actors in the make-up chair being transformed into the characters they’ll portray. It is the only hint of artificiality in this raw examination of a complex relationship. Despite Montand’s constant philandering, Signoret not only still loves him, but remains in love with him. Yet the scars wrought by his affairs, most notably with Marilyn Monroe, are never too far from the surface.

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The performances here are excellent. Though Roschdy Zem and Marina Foïs bear little resemblance to their cinematic counterparts, it only becomes a distraction when the script calls attention to it. Montand displays a genuine bewilderment that his adultery is an issue, while Foïs’ evocation of Signoret’s hurt is palpable. Yet somehow the love that these two French icons shared for each other permeates through all the sorrow.​

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Of the aforementioned film that the actress proposed, Nadine Trintignant asks her “Would there be love?”

​“Of course, there would be love!” Signoret replies. “That's all it would be.”​​