Out of all the film genres, the one the French probably do the best is the coming-of-age movie. It’s not hard to find lots of great examples: Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Eustache’s Mes Petites Amoureuses, Pialat’s L’enfance nue and A nos amours (To Our Loves), Téchiné’s Wild Reeds and Kechiche’s Games of Love and Chance, to name only a few. Film historians may have a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, but if I were to venture a guess, it would be that French auteurs, especially those from the New Wave onwards, tend to reject the cut-and-dry, over-scripted narratives of Hollywood movies in favor of something more honest, messy and personal — which is very much the definition of adolescence.
For her stunning feature debut, La Gradiva, cinematographer turned director Marine Atlan tackles the genre in the most French way possible, delivering a sprawling chronicle of teenage angst that starts off as a laid-back class trip to Italy and gradually turns into a devastating tale of loss. Featuring an impressive cast of unknowns and a fluid style that captures them with both lyricism and verisimilitude, this deserved winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize announces the arrival of a formidable new talent.
