Sandra translates other people’s words and thoughts on a daily basis. She is raising her daughter alone in Paris and regularly visits her father, Georges. He is a former professor of philosophy who is gradually losing his sight and suffers from dementia. Upset about her father’s deteriorating condition, she seeks solace in her long-time friend Clement. He is married but starts seeing Sandra in a new light and the two begin a passionate affair. As they pass their nights together, they begin to see their newfound feelings and their future a little differently.

An impressionistic film about the light radiance emitted by memories and feelings. French director Mia Hansen-Løve, now one of the leading auteurs of European cinema, ingeniously develops the story from the point of view of the “other woman” – Sandra, played by actress Léa Seydoux, is not a lover, a seductress, or a passive character. Viewers might agree with what the actress said after the film’s screening at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes: Sandra is a vibrant, genuine woman who chooses whom she wants to love. Offering an unusual view of a bright, pastel-coloured Paris and a chronicle of the impossibility of “translating” humans, the director and former film critic leaves the viewer asking: what if we love people in the way we want to remember them?