La Gradiva

In the shadow of Vesuvius, a group of French teenagers on a class trip to Naples grapple with the anxiety and exhilaration of high school graduation amid the ancient ruins of Pompeii. Toni, adrift and impulsive; his best friend, James, popular, alluring, and self-possessed; and Suzanne, an aspiring artist who feels rejected by her peers, contemplate faded frescoes and debate their generation’s aspirations and shortcomings. While their exhausted but motivated teacher Mme. Mercier attempts to direct their attention to their breathtaking surroundings, the students’ passions and insecurities lead them toward an irreversible fracture.

Winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Marine Atlan’s revelatory debut feature imbues the coming-of-age story with a sense of mythic grandeur in this work of classical beauty and overwhelming emotion. Working as her own co-cinematographer, Atlan captures the dizzying contradictions of youth with an almost documentary-like precision.