'Tiempos de ilusión', the Intocable directors' 1985 Paris coming-of-age comedy, opens in Spain

A family comedy set in 1985 Paris

The film follows Vincent, a 13-year-old boy in a middle-class family living in a Paris suburb in the mid-1980s, as he prepares for his bar mitzvah. He shares a bedroom with his older brother, and the two keep a distant relationship. His father has lost his job but hides it from the children out of embarrassment, while his mother works as a secretary and decides to study computing. Vincent begins to feel something for a girl in his class and starts to question his own identity. Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin play the parents, Simon Boublil makes his screen debut as Vincent, and Pierre Lottin plays the resourceful porter of the building.

Release in France and Spain

The film opens in Spanish cinemas on 30 October 2026. It has drawn more than two million viewers in France, and before its release it closed the Perlak section of the San Sebastian festival. Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the duo behind Intocable (2011), also made Especiales (2019) and C'est la vie (2017). La Razon lists a running time of 116 minutes and gave the film three and a half stars, calling it perhaps the best of the pair's career. ABC gave it three stars, praising the cast and the period atmosphere. The coverage does not give any box-office figures for Spain.

What the directors say

Nakache told reporters that about 90% of the story draws on personal memories, which he described as a four-handed autobiography. He said each character was inspired by the directors' own families and by the porters of their buildings. According to him, the film tries to recapture the intensity of adolescence, when young people live fully in the present. He said he is unsure whether the pair could make a film about today's teenagers, who are hooked on their phones. On set, the young actors put their phones aside to rush off and play video games, he added.

Nakache also pointed to a mass demonstration on 15 June 1985, organised by SOS Racismo, which he called the largest Paris had seen. It took place as the Front National was rising, and he compared the mood of the crowd to a World Cup win. He said public debate today has less nuance and more violence, and that the film looks back at a time when people felt a little more united. He also named Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen as a filmmaker he admires.

How critics read the film

El Periodico describes the film as a coming-of-age story in which identity joins the usual themes of sex, first love and family ties. It notes that the story is built around Vincent's question of whether the family is French, Jewish or African, since his mother's family lived in Algeria for many years and his father comes from Morocco. The same review says the directors have moved beyond the simpler comedy of Intocable, with sharper characters and humour, though some theatrical moments remain. It also praises scenes in a video club and a film screening, and says the period context is clearly defined.

La Razon praises the cast, the setting and a soundtrack built on The Cure, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran, but faults the film for avoiding difficult topics. The same review says the story touches on women's emancipation and the economic crisis France faced at the time, though only lightly. ABC notes that the film is more tender and less cynical than the directors' earlier work. Taken together, the reviews agree on the period detail and the performances, and differ on how far the film goes beyond nostalgia.

Background to the release

The film is a French production released in 2026, with a screenplay by Nakache, Toledano and Nathalie Hertzberg. Its rise in France came with the period nostalgia that runs through its soundtrack of 1980s music, a choice the directors describe as central to the story. The Spanish release on 30 October 2026 is the first step in bringing the film to a new audience, and the reviews published that week are the first public reaction the coverage records.