The cinema outings of the week with Thierry Fiorile and Matteu Maestracci. “Dalva” by Emmanuelle Nicot and “Eternal Daughter” by Joanna Hogg.
Dalva, is the first name of a 12-year-old girl, victim of incest. And the film begins with the din of a police raid, in which we find the main character in an incestuous relationship with his father. This one dresses her like an adult woman, sexualizes her, and Dalva under the influence is in a very strong denial. She sees herself placed in a home, with conflicting relationships with other young people, educators, but she also shows herself to be unsuitable in the host families with whom she settles.
This is the first feature film by Belgian director and screenwriter Emmanuelle Nicot, who to document herself notably visited a center for abused children in the west of France.
A strong social subject, also dark, not to say compelling, on paper, but don’t be fooled by appearances, Dalva it’s a story that lets in light, that of hope, of rehabilitation. Certain passages of the film, very simple in themselves, are magnificent. In the title role, the young Zelda Samson, a non-professional actress, is extraordinary, Alexis Manenti, from the Kourtrajmé band, who had won a César for Wretchedis also very good
And Dalva is truly our favorite release of the week.
Eternal Daughter by Joanna Hogg
Director discovered late in France, when the two parts of her diptych came out last year The Souvenir, cIntimate artist, esthete with often melancholy images, Joanna Hogg tells a very personal story: a woman, director, settles down for a few days with her mother, in a hotel in Wales where this old lady has memories. And it is Tilda Swinton who performs the performance of playing the two characters, with so much virtuosity that we forget that a single actress embodies the mother and the daughter.
Rarely has the complexity of the mother-daughter relationship been treated so well in the cinema and Joanna Hogg had the intelligence to use the codes of the ghost film for her story: the mist in the park of this building which seems haunted , the creaking of the woodwork, the deserted corridors, the strange staff, it’s very successful, Joanna Hogg evokes this choice and her complicity with Tilda Swinton.
In addition to EternalDaughter, released on Wednesday, four previous films by this filmmaker to discover, will be in theaters next week.