Dir. Claire Burger, 2018, 98 min
With Bouli Lanners, Justine Lacroix, Sarah Henochsberg
In French with English subtitles

After his wife of 20 years leaves the family home, Mario, suddenly is left to care for his teenage daughters, Niki and Frida, alone. Niki, who is about to turn 18, wants to strike out on her own, and 14-year-old Frida is in love with one of her girlfriends. Meanwhile Mario decides to join a community theater group that rehearses in the same space where his wife works as a lighting technician.

A follow-up to Claire Burger’s Camera d’Or–winning Party Girl, which she co-directed with Marie Amachoukeli and Samuel Theis, the film elicits a moving performance from Bouli Lanners, who brings warmth and vulnerability to Mario, while young actresses Sarah Henochsberg and Justine Lacroix offer auspicious performances as Niki and Frida, respectively.

“The supremely confident, intimate storytelling, the unobtrusive warmth of the camerawork, and the piercing naturalism of the performances, direct us so precisely into the heart of each deceptively simple scene that Burger’s intense empathy for her characters becomes our own.” — Variety