There’s not much praise you can give to a despicably unethical and exploitative coming of age film, where upon research after the fact I’ve now come to learn the director should burn in hell. French, of course.
However I would be doing a disservice to the actors not to highlight that the performances from the two lead kids in this film are fucking extraordinary. Beyond anything children should even be capable of channeling. To even be asked to perform such vulnerable, challenging and troubling material is prison worthy in the first place, especially for young Adele Haènel who plays a severely autistic girl and has to go to places here no kid should EVER be put in the position to. No matter what artistic excuses you have. NOT OKAY. She went on to lead Portrait of a Lady on Fire and it saddens me deeply to now learn that the trauma from the production of this debut still lingers with her today, to the point she’s quit acting altogether due to the French cinema industries neglect of child abuse.
I hope she finds peace in this life as she’s a generational talent that was exploited by a monster.
Was bound to come across something like this the deeper into the trenches of European cinema I went. It’s a sick world out there that unfortunately crosses over into this medium far too often.
