The shift from silent cinema to sound reshuffles Hollywood in Babylon. M6 will air the Damien Chazelle film on Thursday, November 12, 2026 at 9:10 p.m., with Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva. Released in France on January 18, 2023, this 3h09 epic follows intertwined careers in 1920s Los Angeles.
At a party hosted by a producer, Manny Torres—an ambitious studio worker who longs to be on set—meets Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress. The star Jack Conrad already belongs to the world they’re trying to break into. Centered on these three, the film follows an industry whose rules and faces are transformed by the arrival of sound.
After Whiplash, La La Land and First Man, Chazelle revisits the history of cinema through the people who make it. Brad Pitt, already at the heart of Quentin Tarantino's Hollywood in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, portrays Jack Conrad here; Margot Robbie plays Nellie and Diego Calva embodies Manny.
Our review of Babylon, published at its release in theaters:
Opening with a sprawling, excess-fueled party straight out of a The Great Gatsby fantasy, Damien Chazelle introduces his cast and the stakes: the audience is dropped into 1920s Hollywood’s high society, its first golden age, where stars are gods and booze and drugs flow freely. Pure, unbridled debauchery, and those outside this circle will do anything to get a foothold, even if it demeans them. It’s also the moment for the filmmaker to prove he hasn’t lost his touch: as deft as ever with the camera, a master of long takes and blessed with a prodigious sense of rhythm. After that opening revel, there’s no doubt: Babylon is a grand masterpiece, and the three hours that follow keep reinforcing that truth.
With this film, Chazelle aims to celebrate the magic of cinema, across all cinemas. Yet the portrait is pointed, biting even, toward a milieu that makes and breaks stars with a snap of the fingers and corrupts even the noblest ambitions. Hollywood appears as the worst sort of mob, where the advent of sound upended everything. Forced to become more respectable, both stars and films smooth out their rough edges and try to appeal to the broadest audience, to the point of losing what made the magic in the first place. Seen this way, it’s a critique, perhaps a lament for a vanished world, but the film’s form shouts the opposite. Babylon isn’t a nostalgic ode; it’s a love letter to cinema, the art form he believes offers humanity the best refuge.
Once again, Chazelle delivers an authentic masterpiece, a sweeping film that threads together numerous themes and features a cast of dazzling performances. It’s consistently impressive, and despite its length, one leaves wishing the spectacle could go on.
To go further, also discover our selection of films, séries et émissions à voir à la télévision cette semaine, our guide to sorties toutes plateformes, and today’s pick Que voir aujourd’hui en streaming.
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