One of the best films to have emerged from Cannes - or France in general - this year, 30-year-old Katell Quillevere's feature-length directorial debut tracks the struggles of strait-laced teenager Anna, who returns to her Breton hometown from boarding school to find herself torn between her religious convictions and her bursting affection for a free-spirited boy. Teetering on this moral precipice, Anna's emotional travails are compounded by collapsing relationships at home as she contends with her parents' divorce. Her father is now away with a new family, and her mother is increasingly confused as she becomes dependent on the parish priest, and an ailing grandfather who somehow demands more from her than her principles might allow.
Never resorting to melodrama, Quillevere injects nuances into every thread of the narrative. But the clincher is probably her ability to coax a striking performance from newcomer Clara Augarde (left), who delivers a pitch-perfect piece of acting as a hormonal teen troubled by small-town ennui - a turn which narrowly beats Lea Seydoux's work in Dear Prudence as the best breakout performance among the entries at this year's French Cinepanorama. Nov 27, 9.45pm, Palace IFC; Dec 5, 8pm, Broadway The One; Dec 12, 9.45pm, Broadway Cinematheque.
