Something in the Air

Something in the Air (Après Mai, 2012) is Olivier Assayas's coming-of-age drama, free to watch online on iFILM. It's Paris in the early 1970s, with the embers of May '68 still glowing.

High-schooler Gilles sprays slogans, runs off pamphlets and argues Mao versus Trotsky — yet what really moves him is painting and film. A clash with riot police turns serious, and the friends scatter across Europe, chasing causes, lovers and a sense of what comes next. Caught between Christine, the elusive Laure and his own pull toward art, Gilles has to decide who he is once the marching stops.

Assayas drew it straight from memory: his generation, his doubts, his record collection of Soft Machine and Syd Barrett. The screenplay took a prize at Venice, and Éric Gautier's camera bathes everything in cigarette haze and dusty light. If you loved Bertolucci's The Dreamers, this quieter cousin is worth your evening. Stream Something in the Air online on iFILM.