The Semaine de la Critique is a spotlight for the debut feature at the Cannes Film Festival. One of the 2026 selections in Flesh and Fuel (Du fioul dans les artères) by Pierre le Gall, whose last effort is the 2018 short Doubout. It tells the story of Étienne (Alexis Manenti), a veteran trucker who works for a logistics company. He is completely dedicated to his career, living mostly on the roads. Meanwhile, he has casual affairs with men in his destinations. In this sense, his philosophy is to avoid having any attachment; his only close relationships are with his sister and niece. However, he faces a dilemma after a one-night stand with Bartosz (Julian Świeżewski), a Polish trucker. Following that, Étienne starts seeking the man at each of the loading checkpoints and develops an emotional attachment that goes against his principles.
Pierre le Gall presents a queer drama about the daily life of a working-class man. His lead character is one of the central elements to the surveillance of the other individuals in society, especially the delivery of the essential goods to our tables. Still, despite the crucialness of their roles, truckers have their carnal necessities. The great Belgian master, Chantal Akerman, documents that in a long sequence of her masterpiece, Je Tu Il Elle, where a married driver confesses his necessity to sex, hence admitting to cheating on his wife. Similarly, the newcomer director stretches the central idea that the Belgian legend expands on that moment, the inevitability of the sexual desire. In this sense, there are a few ideas present in the naturalistic approach in the film. The camera portrays the raw, tedious reality of the man, following him throughout the cloudy and greyish roads, while also filming his sexual encounters, either in his truck or at any gas station across the country.
Due to the economic approach in its visual and textual effort, the film circles the figure of Étienne, the sole point of view in that reality. Alexis Manenti is the soul of the project. Coherent with his career, the actor became a specialist in portraying the working-class man in the French society. He played a shepherd in Le Mohican and a policeman in Les Misérables, careers belonging to the lower end of the social class. Fascinatingly, the actor mostly plays contradictory individuals who reflect on the problems of their ideology and notions of the world. The same applies to Étienne, who discovers the necessity of rethinking his detachment after his feelings for the Polish driver. It is a compelling juxtaposition between his search for his truck in the gas stations and his participation in his family’s life, when he promptly disappears from the Christmas celebration, despite his sister’s request for him to stay. At first, it is a fascination and desire for the bodily, the carnal that Bartosz might offer him, an adrenaline rush amidst the boredom of the asphalt. Still, Manenti nails it perfectly, the disparity between his interest in the mundane, the unknown tradition of a family, and the desirable adventures with the Polish man.
In the last half of the film, despite a mature consciousness as a director, Le Gall leans towards dramatic events that diminish the overall effect of the project. The turning point in the relationship between the two romantic partners is utterly silly, even moralistic, sounding like an escape to justify their clash. It leads to a properly shaped conclusion. Manenti portrays the final shift in his character’s arc, creating a man who suffers from consequences and attempts to learn from them. It showcases the French actor as highly skilled, even if he got typecast as a forty-something suffering from the traumas of his actions. Still, the rushed shifts in the narrative diminish the impact of this story, which expands the myths of the carnal necessity of a trucker. In a few moments, the film flirts with an outdated discussion on Étienne’s sexuality, leaning toward the cringey territory, but the director manages to land on the foolish instead. Yet, the novice filmmaker documents this sexual saga of the working man with delicate eyes and focuses on his emotional opening instead of the typical topics surrounding the LGBTQIA+ reality.
In the end, despite the common visual work throughout his realistic approach, Pierre Le Gall delivers a solid debut effort with Flesh and Fuel, featuring a noteworthy performance by Alexis Manenti. Despite being typecast as the working-class man, he manages to find the balance and delicacy in his acting.
Flesh and Fuel (Du Fioul dans les artères) recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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