Two 16-year-old girls, one birthday, and secrets that crack open like sun-baked earth.
A Mediterranean scrubland. The relentless noise of crickets. In the distance a highway and the procession of lorries travelling through the countryside at top speed. Among the green oaks and thorn bushes the construction of a leisure Centre is nearing completion. On the other side, from the building workers' prefabs can be heard the happy chaos of children shouting, families getting together and Ramadan celebrations. Moving incessantly between the two, are Fabienne, daughter of the manageress of the Centre, and Latifa, daughter of one of the workers. Fabienne and Latifa are friends, they tell each other everything, or almost... When you are 16 there are secrets that you don't share, even with your best friend. Then, there are questions which one would love to be able to answer and mysteries one would love to understand... The Centre's opening day approaches. It is the day of Fabienne's 16th birthday. But why do her mother Anne and her uncle Tom seem to be so fearful of that day?
Direction
Van Effenterre builds dread from landscape and silence.
Cinematography
Harsh Mediterranean light as character, not backdrop.
Acting
Berrier and Khouadra's friendship feels dangerously real.
Director
Bertrand Van Effenterre
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during a real heatwave in Languedoc; the crew passed out, the actors didn't break. The film's languid cruelty came from actual exhaustion.
Anémone, playing Anne, was France's most beloved comic actress — her casting as a woman hiding monstrous compromise was deliberate sabotage of her own image.
FR
