All the Lovers in the Night

Cannes Film Festival: All the Lovers in the Night 🕯️すべて真夜中の恋人たち (2026)

“After the overwhelming light of day has left us, the remaining half draws on everything it has to keep the world around us bright.”

Over the last few years, there’s been a surge in novel-to-screen adaptations, and at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, award-winning Japanese author Mieko Kawakami’s ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT joined the growing list of literary works brought to the big screen.

The film stars Yukino Kishii, who carries the film with her stoic performance, while Tadanobu Asano, known to many viewers for his roles in Shōgun and Mortal Kombat—adds further weight to the cast.

ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT follows the story of Fuyuko, an introverted and emotionally withdrawn proofreader whose life consists almost entirely of work and quietly existing on the sidelines of other people’s lives. Outside of brief conversations with a coworker, she barely engages with the world around her. After completing a difficult assignment, she decides to do something she has avoided her entire life: take her first sip of alcohol.

That single sip becomes an oddly liberating moment, illustrating the intoxicating highs and inevitable lows of liquid courage. What begins as a quiet act of rebellion slowly blossoms into a shy yet steadying confidence, a transformation that deepens after she meets a man at the library who immediately sparks her curiosity.

The two begin meeting regularly for conversation-heavy coffee dates. Their connection builds through long silences, awkward honesty, and emotional restraint rather than grand romantic gestures. As the meetings pile up, a fragile intimacy slowly begins to take shape, though both carry emotional scars they struggle to articulate.

ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT is one of the most emotionally delicate films I’ve seen this year, unfolding with a quiet restraint rather than dramatic force.

The film immerses you in the exhausting emotional haze of someone trapped within themselves, and what initially feels distant or even frustrating-slowly evolves into something deeply affecting. I love films that explore the uncomfortable complexity of the human experience, and ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT handles one woman's journey through loneliness, healing, and self-discovery with extraordinary tenderness. The longer you sit with Fuyuko, the more devastatingly human she becomes.

Honestly, during the first half I found myself thinking, "This girl is strange as hell, why is she so off-kilter...." But once the film begins peeling back the layers of who she is and why she's emotionally disconnected from the world, your heart absolutely sinks. What struck me most was how the film exposed my own impatience with her. The more I understood the pain and isolation behind her behaviour, the more I resented how quickly l had formed an opinion.

That emotional core quietly takes shape through the film's exploration of gendered power dynamics and vulnerability, particularly within one-on-one interactions between men and women. There's an unspoken tension to being alone with someone, and the film understands how much trust exists within those moments, and how fragile that trust can be. It never sensationalizes those ideas. Instead, it reflects on them with a quiet sadness that makes the emotional undercurrent feel painfully real.

Visually, the film is stunning. Shot on 16mm, the cinematography allows light to bleed through the frame in a way that feels almost dreamlike, as if memory itself is swimming between the past and the present. That colour palette becomes emotional indicators, mirroring Fuyuko's internal state as she slowly opens herself to the possibility of connection.

As Fuyuko begins stepping outside the emotional prison she has built around herself, the film subtly changes with her. Even the nearly non-existent score slowly evolves into something blissful and emotionally inviting after so much silence and emptiness dominating the first half. The film itself behaves like its protagonist. It keeps you at arm's length emotionally, refusing to fully open up or explain itself outright. Then, when the flashbacks finally arrive and the reasons behind Fuyuko's emotional isolation come into focus, everything recontextualizes at once.

There are few odd spots in the film. Like why is it being narrated by a man when the narration is from the Fuyuko's point of view? And then there's the relationship between her and he best friend, that tonally starts off seeming romantic, and then a sense of shallow friendly comfort, and then a belittling into submission that never fully nails what's meant to be another aspect of Fukyuko's growth. It worked better as something that contrasted the different relationships people finds themselves in and how everyone has their own normal, then it did as a stepping stone for Fuyuko to reclaim her space in the world.

One of my favourite scenes of the entire year comes during their first outing outside the café at a fancy French restaurant called Ne Laissez Pas. There's this quietly devastating moment where they stare longingly at each other while the waitress explains that the restaurant's name translates to "Don't Leave." That moment perfectly captures the film's emotional DNA. There's a constant yearning between them, always enough distance to respect each other's boundaries, but never enough closeness to fully surrender to intimacy. Their eyes communicate everything neither of them can say out loud.

The film comes full circle in a beautifully poetic moment when the reclusive proofreader decides to write something that someone else will need to proofread. It's the perfect capstone to her story. By the end, there is a quiet but profound sense of ownership she has over her existence after it had felt fleeting for so long.

ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT uses something as deceptively simple as conversation to craft a deeply moving story about loneliness, healing, vulnerability, and the terrifying beauty of allowing yourself to be seen. 

Enjoy!

7.3/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 2hrs18mins

Where: World Premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard Section of Cannes

The Richmond Reviewer All the Lovers in the Night Review - May 29thth, 2026.