The obstetrician was adamant. If they wanted to finally conceive a child, Rémy and Sandra had only one option: finding all the exes in their lives and "performing a sexual act with every one of them again." The disease from which they suffered had a name: "past loves syndrome." This ingeniously twisted idea came from the minds of Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, a Franco-Belgian filmmaking couple, arriving in cinemas in 2023. In the film, Sandra and Rémy (Lucie Debay and Lazare Gousseau) put up a "wall of exes" in their bedroom, just like in police stations (or at the Judicial Union). Under the discomfited eye of Rémy, whose list of lovers reaches a ceiling of three names, Sandra counts, recounts, and counts again. "Nineteen, 20, 21..." Off they go on this bizarre mission.

What unfolds in this American-style fantasy comedy is a subtle reflection on what makes us loving, desiring beings. Sandra and Rémy lose each other, then find each other again thanks to the joyful ballet of these former lovers. Their exes reveal them to themselves. "With this film, what interested us was seeing how a couple is the sum of what they've experienced intellectually and emotionally in their previous stories," said the filmmakers in Sirot's Brussels apartment, coffee in hand. "We wanted both characters to be led to reflect on the kind of stories they've built up in their lives."

Are we the sum of our loves? Can our former companions, whether one-night stands or 30-year sweethearts, reveal the truth about ourselves? This is the question Marthe, 33, has been pondering ever since she met Julie (not her real name). Marthe has been in a relationship with Sébastien for 13 years. They're a loving, happy, quiet couple. Marthe works in the cultural sector in Paris, sharing premises with others, including Julie, who gradually became a friend.

When, one morning, as she does every morning, Julie pushed open the door to their office, Marthe's heart raced. It was impossible to ignore. It was impossible to calm. "My body took control of me," Marthe recounted. For six months, the two women had a passionate love story. "I was overwhelmed by my desire." She told Sébastien about the affair, and he accepted it. But Julie already had a girlfriend, and chose to put an end to their relationship.

From then onwards, everything was as before, but nothing was as before. This lover had come and gone, leaving Marthe with an infinite number of questions. Was she the same as before? Could she carry on like this, with Sébastien, as if nothing had happened, when she no longer had any desire for him? "What is a couple?" she asked herself. "He's my family. I can't imagine him leaving my life. We know how to be together, we bring each other calm, gentleness." But, a little like mourning, the end of a love affair sometimes leaves us with a permanently changed outlook, like a displacement of our whole being. "When Julie and I separated, a door closed on something that had just opened."

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