“Changing Times” is the latest film by the well-admired and accomplished director André Téchiné. It is a welcome return to the classic gratifications of French cinema at a time when the Gallic blockbuster has more and more come to resemble the broad sentimentality and facile predictability of its American counterparts.

Here, a successful engineer, Antoine Laveau (played by Gerard Depardieu), arrives in Tangiers after a departure of 30 years to reclaim his first love, Cecile (Catherine Deneuve), who currently lives with her younger Moroccan husband (the dignified Gilbert Melki) and whose family dynamics are complicated enough already with the arrival of their gay son, his Moroccan girlfriend, her drug problem, and their own nineyear-old son. Rather than the mawkish fairytale it would seem at first glance, the film quickly reveals itself to be a surprisingly measured observation on the equivocal nature of our emotions and the irresolution of human action.

The deft touch of Mr.Téchiné, his approach at once sardonic and romantic, is perfectly articulated in Ms. Deneuve; her gift for appearing unsentimental in the midst of florid stories of grand passions has long been her particular talent and an undeniable element in her pervasive chic. Her self-possession and imperturbability, when paired with the lumbering, unexpectedly graceful restraint of Mr. Depardieu, makes this picture oddly compelling despite its rather hoary premise. It is highly gratifying to watch quiet prowess of these two giants of the French screen display their admirable strengths under Mr. Téchiné’s excellent guidance.

The film is not without its problems, the most basic of which being a lingering indecision about how to address the social or political situation in Tangiers and Morocco’s legacy of colonialism. Whenever the film addresses the relations between the French and the native residents of Tangiers, the impression it gives is paternalistic and slightly discomfiting, while the aesthetic and erotic tribute paid to the environs smacks of a very French love of the exotic. Both Celeste’s young husband and her son’s native paramour are often shirtless, occasionally wet, seemingly uncomplicated objects of sexual gratification leaving the larger questions of love, destiny, and identity to the Europeans. It is impressive that despite this unfortunate context, Mr. Melki is able to make the character of Natan, Celeste’s husband, not only appealing, but perhaps the most sympathetic figure of them all.

Throughout the film, Mr. Téchiné maintains the visual lyricism that will be familiar to those acquainted with his work. By allowing the camera to linger over the sensual richness of the locality, capturing the dissonance of the modern city of Tangiers, he presents a vision of Morocco at once romantic and strikingly realistic.

“Changing Times” is not a spectacular film, but it is a rare opportunity to watch an extremely gifted cast of actors work with a talented director and serves as a pleasant reminder of the pleasures of the distinctly French filmmaking tradition.