
North American Premiere
Valérie Donzelli’s film begins as a sunny romance and slowly, subtly becomes a defiant feminist drama. When Blanche (Virginie Efira) meets Greg (Melvil Poupaud) at a seaside party, she’s quickly won over by his confidence and charm. Soon she’s pregnant by him, and the two make a decision to become life partners. Eventually, Greg reveals himself to be jealous, possessive, and controlling, and when Blanche seeks comfort outside the marriage, things escalate further.
Efira excels in a dual role (playing both Blanche and her twin sister), and as Greg, Poupaud performs the transition from sweet seducer to fearsome abuser with chilling believability. Donzelli laces the drama with brief, impressionistic images, and she shows the same skill for evoking beauty in her heroine: Blanche’s visage, whether showing pain, pleasure, or things in between, is radiantly expressive.
First and foremost a feminist work of truth… charts with formidable, novelistic acuity the trajectory of a woman falling under the control of a man.
Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa
Virginie Efira, Melvil Poupaud, Dominique Reymond, Romane Bohringer, Virginie Ledonyen
France
2023
Showcase
In French with English subtitles
Domestic Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Alice Girard & Edouard Weil
Screenwriter
Valérie Donzelli
Cinematography
Laurent Tangy
Editor
Pauline Gaillard
Production Design
Gaëlle Usandivaras
Original Music
Gabriel Yared
Director

Valérie Donzelli
Valérie Donzelli, born March 2, 1973, is a French actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Despite starting in architecture, her passion shifted to acting. Partnering with Jérémie Elkaïm, they pursued creative ventures together. Donzelli gained fame through TV’s Clara Sheller before her directorial debut, The Queen of Hearts (2008). Declaration of War (2011) drew from her experience when her son battled cancer. A multifaceted artist, she remains a poignant force in French cinema.
Filmography: The Queen of Hearts (2008); Declaration of War (2011); Hand in Hand (2012); Notre Dame (2019)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Super Happy Forever
This beguiling film depicts a man’s return to the Japanese seaside town where he met his now-deceased wife five years earlier. He tries to relive the past, and in the film's final section -- a flashback to 2018 -- the audience is afforded that privilege.
Inedia
Liz Cairns makes a mesmerizing feature debut that sees a young woman suffering from mysterious food allergies join a remote island community practicing alternative healing methods. She soon realizes that not everything is as it seems.
Drop Dead City
New York, 1975. The city is minutes away from bankruptcy and President Gerald Ford wants no part of it. Sanitation workers are on strike and cops are telling tourists it's not safe to visit. The town is going up in flames and they can't pay the firemen.
Boxcutter
The first feature from former Toronto Flow OTA Live host and producer Reza Dahya is a boisterous, sometimes bruising day-in-the-life of wannabe rapper Rome (Ashton James), set on meeting megastar Richie Hill (Rich Kidd).
Hud
Landmark modern western with Brandon de Wilde from Shane worshipping the wrong hero, Paul Newman’s eponymous heel. According to Paul Schrader, this movie marks the birth of the cynical (anti-)hero in American cinema.