Goodbye Cruel World (Adieu monde cruel). The title of the directorial debut of French actor Félix de Givry, whom you may recognize as the lead actor in Mia Hansen-Løve’s Eden and as an Oscar-nominated producer behind Arco, hints at a person struggling with and suffering from their surroundings.

The opening moments of the closing film of the 65th edition of the Critics’ Week, the sidebar that runs alongside the main Cannes Film Festival, immediately confirm that, kicking off a cinematic journey that at times feels like a love letter to cinema history.

So, what is it about? “Otto Vidal, 14, disappeared after writing a farewell letter to his classmates,” reads a synopsis of the film, which world premieres on Wednesday, May 20. There is chatter that Otto at least attempted to die by suicide. “While everyone believes he is dead, Léna, a girl from his high school, spots him one night roaming the streets of the city.”

The film stars Milo Machado-Graner, known for his breakout performance in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, and Jane Beever. Other key cast members include Françoise Lebrun, who is the narrator, Maïa Sandoz, Emmanuelle Destremau and Erwan Kepoa Falé.

Directed by de Givry, who wrote the script with Marie-Stéphane Imbert, the film features cinematography by Tara-Jay Bangalter and editing by Sanabel Cherqaoui. Arnaud Toulon handled the music. The producers are Manon Messiant of Iliade et Films, Ugo Bienvenu of Remembers and de Givry. Playtime is in charge of international sales.

THR can now exclusively reveal a clip from Goodbye Cruel World, which provides a first visual and audio taste of the film. It features Léna going on an evening walk with her dog – only to make a surprise discovery. Watch the exclusive clip from Goodbye Cruel World right here and then read what its director and young male star share about its themes and production.

Machado-Graner and de Givry talked to THR about Goodbye Cruel World, its inspirations and how the film is a throwback to another period in cinema history.

Félix, what was the inspiration for Goodbye Cruel World?

Félix de Givry The starting point was my personal experiences that I went through during my childhood and teenage years. When we were writing the script, the idea was to start with these heavier autobiographical and personal topics and put fiction inside it, and even magic at some points.

The idea was to go from that heaviness and try to leave it, like a memory getting color back. We have something heavy and dark and then put brightness and light back into it.

Were you bullied as a kid?

de Givry Yes, for three, four years, it was pretty intense. But I wanted to portray this differently. In cinema, there’s been a lot of bullying, and typically, you see a kid’s head put in the toilet, or other images that, for me, are pretty false. Of course, the violence aspect of bullying is very important, but it’s also about the language and the fact that people don’t talk about it – the omertà around bullying. Actually, the worst thing about bullying is not so much the guy who bullies, but all the people around him who don’t want to get bullied, so they don’t say anything and are kind of accomplices.

How big a topic is bullying in France?

Milo Machado-Graner Yes, in France, it’s a really important subject. Since my childhood, there have always been prevention campaigns about that at school, and politicians are saying they are going to stop it. But I’m not sure things have really changed. You have to treat this problem while also thinking about economic problems and the [overall] conditions of existence. I wasn’t a victim of that, but yeah, I know people who were bullied. We are all very aware of this subject in France.

You mentioned wanting the film to bring light into the darkness, which is part of the visual evolution of the movie. How early did you decide on that?

de Givry That was there from the very beginning. I showed our director of photography a film called Four Nights of a Dreamer by Robert Bresson, which is very important for me, because it’s a film that really shows night. I think we have forgotten about night and darkness in cinema and are not seeing it much. So, I wanted to really start from a place of darkness, and then light and the sun come in, even when Léna arrives.

When and how did you come up with the idea to use a narrator?

de Givry That came pretty late. We didn’t have much money to make the film, so we cut planned scenes because they were too expensive. So the voice came from the idea to put [or stitch] the story together. I also liked the fact that it adds a feeling of “Did it happen, did it not happen?” And if the story has already happened, there is the suspense of how it will end.

Milo, how was this role different from your past work?

Machado-Graner This person is very romantic in the sense of straight. He is very demanding with people, and he wants them to be exactly as the ideal he has. He’s growing up and understands that reality doesn’t work like that. That touched me a lot.

You and Jane have a chemistry that feels very natural. How did you two and Félix build that?

Machado-Graner We met in Paris to see how it would work. I think I met three girls to see which one could be a good match. And with Jane, it was automatic. She’s intense in how she speaks, and I think that worked well for the contrasts between the two characters.

We did rehearsals, but also spent time getting to know each other in Paris. We also saw a lot of movies together, movies with relationships between a young guy and a young woman, but very different ones. For each movie, Félix said: ‘”his part I like. Watch out for this aspect!” We saw Buffalo ’66, Splendor in the Grass, Licorice Pizza, which are the three that I liked the most, and others. I also had to read Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. And so we were really ready when we started shooting.

There is a recurring musical theme, which makes the music feel a bit like its own character. Can you talk a bit about the role you envisioned for music?

de Givry Films today have forgotten this relationship with music, where you really have a theme that encapsulates the whole story and its complexity. Nowadays, music in films sometimes illustrates what you have to feel at this moment in this scene, whether it’s a feeling of happiness, a feeling of sadness, or whatever.

What I loved about film music from the ’60s, and even the ’30s, was that it was more the program of the film. When the melody comes back, whether it’s a happy or a dark scene, the story comes back. For me, even in the opening titles, music is a bit like when you go to the theater or the opera. It [helps you with] the suspension of disbelief. “Oh, I’m going to watch a story.” So, I feel music in the opening titles had this mission to put you in the mood of entering fiction.