Jeune Femme

Club Cert; Now showing

One of the great strengths of renowned French filmmaker Claire Denis is that her films are like portraits, great detailed studies, usually of women, at a particular moment in their life.

Leonor Serraille’s debut as writer/director has that same quality — respecting the audience’s intelligence, she creates a complex character through layers of detail.

The Denis comparison however is in no way to undermine that Serraille’s film is very much her own, told in her own style and about her own generation.

It is both specific and universal, a personal story that raises broader questions given life through a wonderful performance by Laetitia Dosch.

Paula (Dosch) is 31 and has just come out of a long-term relationship with Joachim (Gregoire Monsaingeon), her former teacher whose current success as a photographer is based on a photo of Paula.

Unceremoniously dumped, she loses all sense of herself and goes slightly mad.

She has burned a lot of bridges with friends and family, so effectively finds herself starting from scratch. She survives because she must and in doing so finds that the goal that kept her going in the beginning is not necessarily what she wants. It also raises broader questions about the meaning of freedom.

An interesting and not always likeable character, Paula makes a great lead. There’s no clear timeline, just progress, and it’s told well and with humour.