Director

Suzanne Lindon

France | 2020 | 73 min | French

• Producer Caroline Bonmarchand
• Production Company Avenue B Productions
• Screenplay Suzanne Lindon
• Cinematography Jérémie Attard
• Editing Pascal Chavance
• Sound Guilhem Domercq, Rémi Durel, Julie Tribout
• Cast Suzanne Lindon, Arnaud Valois, Florence Viala, Frédéric Pierrot, Rebecca Marder
• Contacts

  Luxbox

  info@luxboxfilms.com

About the Film

This French drama from first-time filmmaker Suzanne Lindon was selected for the 2020 Cannes label and received acclaim at its various subsequent festival screenings. The debut film from the 20-year-old writer/director Lindon details the relationship between 16-year-old Suzanne (also played by Lindon) and an older man with whom she falls in love.

The delicate and complicated notion of first love is impressive and movingly captured in this striking new film. As Wendy Ide wrote in Screen Daily: “It’s a slippery transitional zone that writer, director and actress Suzanne Lindon captures evocatively in her feature debut, about a schoolgirl’s infatuation with an older man. And it’s perhaps not surprising— Lindon, who penned the screenplay aged 15, was simultaneously living the moment and writing it. Still just 20 when she directed and starred in the film, Lindon creates a portrait of first love which is fresh, honest and engaging. The sylph-slight story is given weight by Lindon’s performance. The acting genes are evidently strong (she is the daughter of Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain): Lindon gives an effortlessly natural, emotionally open performance (...) Lindon’s extreme youth is one selling point, but certainly not the only one—this is a film with real charm, which should serve as a launchpad for her career both as a director and, perhaps more so, as an actor.”

Arnaud Valois is equally impressive as the 35-year-old Raphael, the man that Suzanne is taken with. He is an actor who is starring in a play nearby. As ScreenDaily adds: “And yes, it’s a little creepy, the way he gazes wistfully at her as if she’s the answer to his ennui. But Lindon handles the relationship in a way that diffuses the slightly suspect elements. It is, as far as is shown, a platonic affair. Their kisses, although not exactly chaste, are never on the lips. And crucially, Lindon demonstrates that her character has agency when she refuses to take a ride on his moped.”

Mark Adams