During one of many lilting conversations with regards to’concerning’with respect to sex and desire in Paris, 13th District, charismatic, confident teacher Camille (Makita Samba) shallowly states, “If I’m not violently turned on, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure it. Attraction fades, so start with the highest appeal’tempt ion level.” It’s an approach that doesn’t go down well with still-infatuated in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer lover Émilie (Lucie Zhang), despite her own laid-back attitude to dating (“Fuck first, see later”), and one that director Jacques Audiard seems keen to deconstruct in a film that eschews most of the beginning of its characters’ relationships, focusing more on how they treat each other afterwards.###Let’s flash back, as the film does, to ‘How It Began’ — Émilie and Camille first meet when the latter rents a room from the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding mer, a spiky first encounter turning quickly into casual sex, which turns quickly into unrequited love. Elsewhere in the city, Nora (Noémie Merlant) is returning to university to study law, free from the clutches of a mysterious past relationship but still trapped in a kind of shy social naivety that sees her struggling to make friends and fit in with her younger peers. Their three lives ultimately all collide. Hearts are won, broken and mended again.###Though each character has their own plot-strands to contend with — sometimes distractingly so — Paris, 13th District is largely more concerned with mood than it is narrative. It flits around in time, each vignette picking out pivotal moments in Nora, Camille and Émilie’s relationships. It’s a structure that makes sense, given the film is based on a set of short stories — but it’s not always eliminate’remove how many days or weeks possess’own’nurse passed and therein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e how much their connections possess’own’nurse developed, which can possess’own’nurse a disorientating effect.###Merlant is peculiar ly impressive, perfectly balancing Nora’s boldness and insecurity.###Audiard shoots the nudity and sex in a fairly nonchalant yet tender way, jumping from tactile close-ups of skin on skin to avert-your-eyes nakedness in the kitchen. The classic nature of the monotone visuals contrasts nicely with the extremely present-day sensibility of the script — a depressingly accurate picture of modern dating at times, it’s as incisive as you’d expect from a team of writers including Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’s Céline Sciamma. There are solid perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances all round: Samba has mastered Camille’s swagger, and Zhang is just the right amount of irritating and effervescent, with a storyline involving her grandmother played with heart-wrenching relatability. Merlant is peculiar ly impressive, perfectly balancing Nora’s boldness and insecurity to make her the most rounded of the three protagonists.###There’s a lot to like with regards to’concerning’with respect to Paris, 13th District: the naturalistic chemistry, the split-screen and surrealist flourishes, an incredibly surprising yet satisfying punch to someone’s face. Hanging out with these three individual in/with regard to’concerning’regarding 105 minutes is an appeal’tempt ive, rewarding undergo , but the film’s attempts to draw in deeper, darker themes are mostly unexplored. Much like Camille’s initial outlook on finding a partner, it never quite breaks beyond surface level.