Les Baisers de Secours, Philippe Garrel, 1989

Emergency Kisses follows Mathieu, a French film director who is working on a new movie inspired by his own life. When Mathieu decides not to cast his wife Jeanne-a professional actress-in the part based on her, and instead offers it to another actress, the decision triggers tension and emotional conflict between them. Jeanne sees this as a personal rejection, and their marriage begins to strain under the pressures of artistic ambition, love, and identity. As the story unfolds, Mathieu and Jeanne grapple with their differing views on art and life, exposing the fragile interplay between creativity and intimacy. The film features Garrel's own family-his real-life wife, son, and father-as versions of themselves, blurring autobiographical elements with fiction to explore how personal relationships and artistic expression collide. Emergency Kisses is a black-and-white, introspective drama that examines marriage, jealousy, and the challenges of making art about one's own life.