Living in a small Parisian apartment, Sandra (Léa Seydoux) is barely able to support herself and her eight-year-old daughter Linn as a freelance translator. As her father Georg (Pascal Greggory) continues to lose his sight and memory from Benson’s syndrome, Sandra must navigate the labyrinthine system of national care homes, with all their financial burdens and logistical nightmares.
As her entire life begins to revolve around her banal obligations, Sandra has a chance encounter with an old friend, Clément (Melvil Poupaud), which blossoms into a passionate affair. After experiencing her daily life for so long as a series of duties and responsibilities towards others, Sandra attempts to reconcile her role as mother and caretaker to her nascent love affair with Clément, feeling almost guilty at the sudden, unexpected burst of love and happiness as her father’s condition worsens. In her intimate, thoughtful exploration through the fragile vagaries of love—romantic, filial, domestic—Mia Hansen-Løve (Things to Come, Bergman Island), delivers another poignant, personal film that resonates long after it ends.
Seydoux’s performance anchors the film, ultimately rendering it a love letter to the present, and to the ways heartbreak and hope intertwine.”—Alissa Wilkinson, Vox
Supported by
Mia Hansen-Løve
Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, Nicole Garcia, Camille Leban Martins
France/Germany
2022
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Love & Independence
A program of shorts that introduces daring new voices in Canadian cinema. Personal, playful, provocative, and self-financed, these films offer the freedom to express boldly through practices rooted in filmmaking among friends.
Endless Cookie
Are you ready for the most Canadian comedy of recent years? It's a documentary about half-siblings sharing stories, but it's mostly about interruptions, digressions, diversions, and free pizza. It's also animated, but you probably already noticed that.
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Chasing Ice
This visually stunning film follows renowned National Geographic photographer James Balog on a harsh Arctic expedition where he captures a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers — undeniable evidence that our planet is in crisis. The screening will be introduced by James Balog.
Credits
Producer
David Thion, Philippe Martin
Screenwriter
Mia Hansen-Løve
Cinematography
Denis Lenoir
Editor
Marion Monnier
Production Design
Mila Preli