He has also written and directed the films The Sentinel (1992), My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument (1996), Esther Kahn (2000), Playing 'In the Company of Men' (2003), Kings and Queen (2004), A Christmas Tale (2008), Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2013), Ismael's Ghosts (2017), Oh Mercy!

Arnaud Desplechin studied film directing at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle then at the IDHEC, graduating in 1984.

In 2000, Desplechin made his first English-language film, Esther Kahn, adapted from a short story by Arthur Symons, and starred Summer Phoenix in the title role.

However, controversy arose when actress Marianne Denicourt, Desplechin's ex-girlfriend, accused him of revealing elements of her private life in the screenplay of Kings and Queen.

In 2005, she published Mauvais génie ("Evil Genius"), describing her relationship with an unscrupulous film director called "Arnold Duplancher."

[3] In 2007, Desplechin filmed L'Aimée, a documentary showing his father, his brother, and his nephews in the family house in Roubaix just before it was to be sold.

In October 2024, Desplechin started shooting his 14th feature film, Une affaire, starring François Civil, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Charlotte Rampling and Hippolyte Girardot.