

At Christmas time, 19-year-old Simon returns home to visit his dysfunctional family with Louise, a fearless girl he met during his train ride. While Simon struggles to cope with the growing distance between him and his parents, he starts to examine his feelings when Louise develop a liaison of her own with his childhood friend Mathieu.
Acting
Young Gaspard Ulliel's wounded intensity before he became Hannibal.
Cinematography
Bleak lighthouse isolation that mirrors Simon's emotional imprisonment.

Director
Rodolphe Marconi
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mélanie Laurent broke through internationally two years later in Inglourious Basterds; this was her raw early work.
The lighthouse setting deliberately inverts typical Christmas warmth—Marconi wanted 'a tomb you can see the sea from.'
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