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Desplechin secretly shot adaptation of Philip Roth's Deception in September, starring Léa Seydoux and currently in post-production, which seems to have been a passion project for a while now. He also notes that he decided to film it due to its COVID-friendly limited needs for production, and hints that he's also working on something much bigger:

Arnaud Desplechin wrote: During lockdown, whilst writing a script which would require wide distribution, extras, a complex schedule and lots of locations, a really old project which I’d left up in the air because I’d never worked out how I could do it, or convey its style, suddenly came back to me

Wild Bunch accidentally released early an Italian-subbed trailer for Desplechin's pandemic project Deception

Arnaud Desplechin's Deception (the trailer doesn't have English subs)

Tromperie (Desplechin)
Good God, what a tremendous chore. Roubaix got a lot of criticism over its perceived lack of idiosyncrasy (I've only been able to see half of the film, and I noticed some Desplechin trademarks in the form if not at all in the narrative) but I'd take it any day over whatever this abomination is. Takes the chaotic, novelistic energy of My Sex Life and ditches all signs of life (albeit keeping some of the sex), reducing the film to a series of jarring rhythms and loosely-structured shallow conversations with virtually no honesty or playfulness remaining. Let me quickly say that if anyone wants to watch a great recent Desplechin film, they should try John Magary's The Mend, which wears its influences on its sleeves but uses many of Desplechin's quirks (some of them also seen in this film — notably the iris out) to achieve something wonderful.

It's not going to draw in a crowd with any more "accessible" holds compared to his recent work, but I think Tromperie is among his very best work and a perfect Desplechin movie for these times of enforced, inevitable isolation, which it's of course reflexively inspired by in this incarnation of the script. It's also one of his most intellectual and emotionally moving films, pushing both aspects of his artistic ambitions to novel messily-lyrical places, even for him.

I see it’s streaming on MUBI now, so I guess I have new Saturday afternoon plans.

Fair warning, it's also Desplechin making abstract art. I don't think it'll be surprising given this is a filmmaker who has frequently (and appropriately) applied abstract principles to emotion and character dynamics, but the lack of narrative lucidity will surely frustrate some. Though as a fever dream of his style and interests, it's an extremely germane canvas of elasticity to cast these nonlinear and tangled experiences, and I'm surprised he hasn't structured a film like this before.

You’re right, it’s one of his best films. Roth and Desplechin are perfectly matched. This is definitely the best adaptation of Roth’s work I’ve ever seen (although the field is not particularly distinguished), and who would have thought a Frenchman of Greek descent would be the best embodiment of Roth (and/or the Rothian hero) to date? Everything important or fundamental to Roth’s work, especially of this late-‘80s-early-‘90s period, is here in the film and given due consideration: autobiography vs. invention, adultery, carnality, Kafka, Czech dissidents, Roth’s father, cancer and the ever-present threat of death, Israel, charges of misogyny and the defense against such in the worst manner possible…it’s just all there and treated with great intelligence.

I suppose the narrative structure has some precedent in Trois souvenirs…, but it’s not quite the same. This feels almost like it could have been a filmed version of a stage adaptation (which I mean in the best way possible) in the distinct acts/chapters, almost all of which are “two-hander” scenes, and in the sudden and stunning cuts to settings that resemble stage decor.

Léa Seydoux is luminous, of course. Is she ever not (except when her talents are squandered by Anglophone directors)? But all of the women in smaller roles are wonderful as well, as you would expect in a Desplechin film. I don’t think I’ve previously seen Rebecca Marder in anything, but she was very exciting to watch.

Great thoughts, Matt, and agreed on Marder- her restaurant monologue about her mental health trials is one of the most affecting highlights of the film, and there are so so many

Sorry, I found this a chore too. If this accurately represents Philip Roth, then he is exactly what I thought he was (ie something I don't want to read). I saw very little of Desplechin here, and wasn't even invested enough to be annoyed or any other emotional response. I liked the scene with a character that I assume is supposed to be Ivan Passer, aaaaand that's about it

I’ve only read a handful of Roth’s novels, but this feels way more like Desplechin attempting to adapt the work of any self-absorbed artist who isn’t him, vs an accurate representation of Roth’s work in particular. The critical joke for me is that Desplechin relates so much to this mentality that he can get away with being both charitable to Roth and inserting his own self and style into the mix. It’s a mess, but that’s kinda his jam, and the only honest way to convey a memory piece like this drowning in excessive cognitive and emotional stimulation