La Venue De L’avenir (Colours of Time) is a playful homage to France’s rich artistic heritage and changing social mores. Starring Suzanne Lindon, Vincent Macaigne, Cécile de France and Paul Kircher, the comedic drama follows the lives of cousins who inherit an old house in rural Normandy and retrace their steps of their ancestors in 19th century Paris.
In 2025, nearly 30 individuals learn unexpectedly that they are linked by one shared ancestor, Adèle Meunier (Suzanne Lindon). The legacy awaiting them is unusual: a countryside home in Normandy, abandoned for decades and suspended in time. Four of them, Seb (Abraham Wapler), Abdel (Zinedine Soualem, Divertimento, AF FFF24), Céline (Julia Piaton, Like a Prince, AF FFF25) and Guy (Vincent Macaigne, Three Friends, AF FFF25), are sent to survey the estate. They enter the property expecting organisation, documentation and clear boundaries. The house replies with echoes.
As they uncover traces of Adèle’s life, the story opens onto another era. In 1895, Adèle leaves Normandy at twenty and reappears in Paris, a city alive with invention, early photography and the rise of Impressionism. The film moves between 2025 and 1895, letting the past mirror the present. This dialogue across time gently challenges the relatives’ certainties, inviting them to rethink identity, legacy and the future they carry without realising it.
Leading up to the Australian premiere of Colours in Time, which serves as the Opening Night Gala film for the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the films co-writer and director, Cedric Klapisch, about how consuming art has evolved over the centuries, and the influence of the past on the present.
Nick: One of the first things that stood out to me in your film was during the opening credits, and how you portray how people observe art in the 21st century. Everyone is looking at these art pieces through the photos and videos they are taking on their phones. How did your thoughts about how the consumption of art has evolved over weave its way into this story?
Cedric Klapisch: Well, the first idea that really came was that I wanted to do a period movie, and something very abstract. I wanted to compare photography at the time, you know, during the 19th century, and the way that photography pushed paintings to change, and how artists were probably influenced by the arrival of photography. So, I wanted to talk about that.
I didn’t know exactly how to talk about this abstract idea though, so I invented the story about the family, the abandoned house, and how the house brings inquiry about the past. And that’s how we started going back and forth between the two periods.
Nick: You have an ensemble group of 4 characters who are very unique and different to one another, but are thrust into this abstract story together. I’m curious to know how the characters evolved throughout the screenwriting process as they interacted with each other and became more involved in the story?
CK: There are four cousins out of the 30, and we wanted to show that they’re very different to one another. They’re different ages, generations, backgrounds. One is living in the countryside making honey. Another works in the train industry. One is a teacher, and the other one is an Instagram content creator. And the idea was that they’re not going to be able to communicate together because they are too different. The more we worked on building those characters, the more we realised that we had to find things in common, and that came through the idea that they are all dealing with the future.
The beekeeper is talking about the future of the planet. The train business woman is inventing the train of the future. The teacher deals with the future of his pupils. And the content creator is dealing with how art is changing. So it really became about finding the differences, and then it was about finding out what they have in common, so they can become a family together.
Nick: One of the most fascinating conversations that is had in this film is during the 19th century storyline, about how painting is going to disappear as an artform due to the invention of photography. Yet, 200 years later, paintings are still here! People talk about how cinema is a dying artform, but as a passionate cinephile, I don’t think that’s the case. Would you also consider cinema to be like paintings in that same argument?
CK: Definitely! A lot of people are talking about the end of cinema, or how changing platforms are going to replace movie theatres. But, I don’t believe it. I think it’s not dying. And I’m talking about that in this picture. Impressionists reacted to the fact that photography was invented by painting differently. So, I think it’s now about how we create differently. The audience is also changing, so what do we do with this art?
Nick: The film looks at how art connects people through time. And it got me thinking about how these days, there is a lot of talk about generational trauma and how that affects people. But, I did become curious about whether the same could be said about art. Art connects Adele and the four cousins over a 200 year timespan – could it be the case that you’re exploring something like “generational creativity” and how that is passed on over time?
CK: I think… You know, we think the present has nothing to do with the past. But, the present is full of the past. Especially when you’re in Paris. You can see that the past is the present, and you have to deal with that. The street [names] of Paris are dead people, so you don’t forget about the past. I think that creating new stories is about facing your past, and your traumas. You deal with things that you inherited without knowing. I think the movie is talking a lot about that.
Nick: How has the art of the past influenced you as a filmmaker?
CK: There are so many important foundations into my being. I always look to the past for inspiration as an artist, a filmmaker. Over the last 10 years, I’ve watched a lot of movies from the 70s, silent movies, classical movies. They are so influential. Citizen Kane, the movies of Fellini. They are so creative, and the more creative it is, the more something modern comes out of it. It’s interesting to be interested by the past.
Nick: Without spoiling too much, there is a scene involving ayahuasca in the film, and the editing and cinematography is brilliant! It’s such a well crafted scene. Is that a scene that you feel exemplifies what you mean by creating something modern and influential?
CK: Yeah! We spent so long editing that scene and it just wasn’t working. I almost threw it away because it wasn’t working. I think it’s really the use of sound in that scene, and the use of music that helped us create something which felt strange and new – which are often two related things, you know?
It was complicated, but the idea of that scene was to create a “machine” that would help you travel through time. And that “machine” was ayahuasca. But, it’s really funny how it also places the audience in that moment. It creates comedy, but it also creates something moving.
Thank you so much to Cedric for his time, and to NixCo PR and the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival for organising the interview. The 2026 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival begins in all major cities and regional areas in early March. Head to https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/ for more information.
See ‘Colours of Time’ at Alliance Française French Film Festival across the country from 3 March – 26 April (www.affrenchfilmfestival.org)
