"Philippe Garrel's strictly autobiographical films are unapologetically centered around men. But women's faces illuminate his work in a way that those of men cannot because they are always turned away in thought." (Kent Jones) Philippe Garrel takes the material for his fictions out of the troubling experiences of his own existence. A child of the French New Wave of the 1960s, in The Birth of Love he turns his attention to the lives of two middle-aged men who are living out entanglements of their own making. An actor, Paul (Lou Castel) is in love with Ulrika but stays with Franchon out of love for their two children. His friend Marcus (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a writer, is still in love with Hélène, who says she no longer loves him. The two men find themselves in predicaments as confusing as in their youth, only they aren't young anymore. Castel and Léaud (themselves echoes of a former time) give intense, iconic performances. The extraordinary black-and-white cinematography is by Raoul Coutard.-San Francisco International Film Festival, 1994