Director: Jasmin Gordon

Stars: Ophélia Kolb, Paul Besnier, Arthur Devaux, Jasmine Kalisz Saurer

Swiss-American director Jasmin Gordon’s feature debut is a challenging study of unconventional motherhood. Call My Agent’s Ophélia Kolb is Jule, a single mother to three young children: Claire, Loic and Sami (Saurer, Besnier and Devaux). In the film’s opening sequence, she leaves them in a restaurant nursing a single glass of lemonade, assuring them that she will return in five minutes. When she fails to do so, the trio find their own way home. Jule joins them later breezily chatting as if nothing has happened. As the film unfolds, and Jule shunts the family from one temporary home to another, it becomes clear that her rebellious unorthodox nature means she will struggle to fit in with societal expectations and keep the family together. Even the children, for whom the situation feels normal (what else do they have to go on?) begin to worry about their mother’s behaviour. This can be a distressing watch as Jule struggles to stay one step ahead of teachers and authorities, but there are moments of grace here too, as the mother stages an impromptu party for the children, or when the family go for a swim at a lake. Gordon elicits commendably natural performances from the young cast, and Kolb is captivating as a woman who fiercely loves her children but is barely able to navigate her own life.

David Willoughby

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