A boy convinces himself he's cursed to die young—and his mother barely blinks.
Twelve-year-old Mathieu is haunted by the death of his father, who died accidentally when he was two. On each anniversary of his death, the young boy becomes withdrawn and unusually taciturn. This attitude worries his grandmother, but not his mother, Agathe, a general practitioner, who prefers not to overreact. Things get complicated when Mathieu, fascinated by his history teacher's tales of cursed kings, decides to create his own family tree and convinces himself he is the descendant of a family of men who die young.
Acting
Florence Pernel's chilling restraint as a mother in denial.
Direction
Deluz lets silence do the screaming.
Director
Anne Deluz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
French cinema loves its emotionally unavailable mothers—this fits squarely in that lineage from Varda to the Dardennes.
The cursed kings subplot mirrors Mathieu's need for narrative control: if destiny kills you, no one failed to save you.
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