Teenage rebellion takes many forms but rarely does it involve wanting to actually work. Instead of getting into trouble with his friends or lazing about his parents’ glᴀss-walled villa, 16-year-old Enzo (Eloy Pohu) spends his days mixing concrete and laying tile with men beyond his age. In Enzo

, the opening film for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, desire boils under the surface of its тιтle character as he figures out his place in the world and his complicated feelings for his coworker Vlad (Maksym Slivinskyi), a Ukranian man escaping his war-torn country.

Enzo Underscores Its тιтular Character’s Complexities

There’s a quiet rage hiding under the surface of Enzo, but the film doesn’t exploit tragedy or despair to get its message across. It’s quieter in nature, reflective of the character at the center, a boy of few words whose expression barely hints at the complex feelings of youth that are constantly evolving.

More than anything, Enzo wants to be accepted by his construction worker colleagues, brushing off his father’s concerns for his well-being as his mother dotes on him regardless. Both of Enzo’s parents are rather lax in their atтιтude towards life. His mother doesn’t bat an eye when she comes home to find Enzo swimming with a girl in their pool. His father only becomes serious when he’s pushing Enzo to pursue art school or some other academic endeavor, skills he sees as much more useful than the ones Enzo is developing.

And then there’s Vlad — all taut muscles and tan skin — who takes Enzo under his wing. He shows him pictures of girls on his phone and invites Enzo out to the club with his other Ukranian friend. Even though the bouncer doesn’t even let him in, Enzo declares it “the best night of [his] life.”

Enzo’s feelings for Vlad are much more complex than just the ones colleagues share. He is inexplicably drawn to the man, maybe because Vlad treats Enzo like one, rather than like the child his parents treat him as. Vlad also doesn’t question Enzo’s desire to do construction work, even when he finds out that he needn’t lift a finger to make a living.

Enzo is subtle in its examination of queer desire, understanding that quick glances and soft touch can be just as sensual — and even more effective — as anything intense. There’s plenty of homoerotic tension but it’s underscored by Enzo’s overarching development that goes far beyond just his Sєxual idenтιтy.

One gets the sense that Enzo’s parents, played by Pierfrancesco Favino and Élodie Bouchez, wouldn’t mind if he came out, making his stride all the more palpable. Sometimes the pressure we feel is self-inflicted, created not by the people around us but by the voices in our heads pulling us in different directions. Enzo faces plenty of external pressure, particularly from his father and his brother Victor who, in the background of the film, is often studying, before a final confrontation takes place at a celebration for Victor’s admission into a Parisian college.

But the pressure Enzo puts on himself is what’s causing him to silently fall apart. Eloy Pohu’s subtle ticks — the way he brushes off his parents, steals a glance, or contemplates a spur-of-the-moment decision — imbue Enzo with a sense of real indecision coupled with the overconfidence of a 16-year-old boy. It’s a tricky balancing act, one the young actor pulls off gracefully.

Enzo is the final collaboration between director Robin Campillo and co-writer Laurent Cantet, the latter of whom died of cancer in April 2024 before production on the film could commence. Campillo honors his collaborator with this feature, which uses the backdrop of rebellion to look at tensions between expectations and reality, landing on an elegant but subtle note that is both hopeful and bracingly real in its perspective.

Enzo premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.