When Camille's son was killed in a car accident, the devastating loss proved too much for emotionally fragile mother to bear. Now desperately clinging to any reminder of the son she held so close to her heart, Camille becomes increasingly fixated on Frank - the young man who was not only her child's best friend, but the one who was responsible for the tragic accident that took his life as well. At first, Frank is receptive to Camille's advances. It's not long, however, before the pair's scandalous relationship prompts many of Camille's friends to distance themselves from the increasingly unstable woman. Later, as Camille's obsession with Frank turns menacing, the relationship between grief-stricken mother and her guilt-ridden lover begins to take on ominous undertones.
Acting
Deneuve's terrifying fragility—icon playing against type.
Direction
Morel's unflinching gaze at maternal horror.
Director
Gaël Morel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Deneuve was 64 playing opposite a 22-year-old—a deliberate provocation on aging, desire, and who gets to be seen as sexual.
Morel's trilogy (including 'Wild Side') explores queer and outsider identities in conservative French society; this is his most heteronormative yet most transgressive.
FR
