Life flashes by us in a montage of scenes at the moment of our imminent deaths, or so they say. A luminous new film by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (Funny Felix, Frameline25, Côte d’Azur, Frameline29) is the closest thing we can experience to this montage. This gorgeous inter-generational chronicle is a wild ride on the emotional and political roller-coaster of middle-class France and left wing politics.

In France’s student riots of 1968, we are introduced to the core characters: the beautiful and impetuous Catherine, the conscientious Yves and the uncompromising Hervé. Finding inspiration in a fellow student who has returned from Berkeley, they start a commune in an ancient farmhouse, determined to live by their utopian creed of “Equality between men and women, no more taboos, no more laws!” As the communards strike out for the world beyond, they are battered by a changing, often hostile array of right-wing governments, pro-choice activism and imprisonment.

Natural childbirth in the commune begets a second generation that includes two gay sons who become members of the new sexual revolution. Born in ’68 masterfully presents the advent of cell phones and the Internet, HIV, homophobia and civil unions. But more than political conflicts and the advances of technology, this chronicle celebrates the clashes between generations and the capacity of the love they share for one another to transcend time. — FRAKO LODEN