In a delicate, even generous manner, Valérie Massadian’s new film begins as a story of two young lovers’ life on the fringes before shifting towards one of recent cinema’s finest depictions of motherhood. Milla and Leo live clandestinely, their meager furnishings and sustenance countered by a love for which there is neither a logic nor substitute. But such an existence will only last until forces of nature take hold. Where is there to go in its wake? Milla considers every dimension of love, loyalty, and grief through a poetic, startling vision that recalls the likes of Barbara Loden and Chantal Akerman while remaining without precedent. (Grasshopper)
Beautifully observed... Poised intriguingly between realism and stylized lyricism.
- Richard Porton and Shaista Husain, Cineaste
A stunning portrait of the quotidian nature of life and how it gives birth to more staggering moments. Cinema as humanity.
- Willow Maclay, The Film Stage
In Massadian's hands, the minor and the major are one and the same... Concerned with establishing an atmosphere of intimacy and empathy, which grows in intensity to an almost unbearable degree as the film moves toward its finale.
- James Lattimer, The House Next Door
Every framed shot in the film is masterful, vital and rich in significance, giving the film both a strength and unexpected power. Rich in extraordinary narrative talent and an elegant direction of actors. A film that transforms the harshness of youth into something sublime.
- Muriel Del Don, Cineruopa
Steely, sinewy, divergent, reactive, propulsive, frequently beautiful and contemplative. Pulsing with a life force whose energy oscillates between Fréhel and the Violent Femmes, Massadian's film accrues in weight and meaning by way of intuition, tension, contradiction, and counter-rhythm.
- Andréa Picard, Cinema Scope
(Available to download after screening date)