Beloved French auteur André Téchiné, whose classic LGBTQ+ films include Wild Reeds, Thieves, and The Witnesses (Frameline31), brings his world-wise maturity and narrative grace to this riveting drama set along the romantic canals of Venice and the nearby island of Sant’Erasmo, suitably picturesque backdrops for a panoply of characters entangled in all manner of Euro sophistication, from passionate love affairs, multigenerational family discord and fallen aristocracy to drug-running, alcoholism and bisexual chic.

Famous French writer Francis (silver fox André Dussollier, unabashedly baring all in his late sixties), arrives in Italy hoping to pen his next novel in peace and quiet, yet a meet-cute with Judith, a bisexual real estate agent (the seductive Carole Bouquet), quickly leads to marriage. When Francis’s hard-partying daughter disappears, he hires Judith’s ex, Anna Maria, a saucy lesbian private detective, to track her down. At the same time, suspicious of his younger wife’s fidelity (she’s seemingly slept with every available girl and guy in Venice), Francis secretly hires Anna Maria’s ex-con son to follow Judith. Surprising discoveries are made and unlikely alliances formed among these “impardonables,” — as the film’s French title pegs them — and as the seasons pass they contend with irrational passion, emotional upheaval, artistic struggle and even gay-bashing.

Téchiné effortlessly maintains multiple storylines and treats all of his characters with sympathy, regardless of their sexual orientation (though vodka-swilling Anna Maria is unapologetically disgusted by Judith’s flings with members of the opposite sex). Viewers of this refreshingly adult film will have much to discuss, and cause to consider their own “unforgivable” relationships.