Out Of Love

Bluesky

Every project that 25-year-old director Nathan Ambrosioni has made turns around families and their internal dynamics from his debut Paper Flags (about a brother and sister reunion) and Toni, with Camille Cottin as a single mother juggling with her brood of five.

His third feature is no exception to the intrigue families can exert. Here working with Cottin again he explores how this career woman Jeanne copes when her sister Suzanne (Juliette Armanet from Cannes opener Leave One Day) arrives out of the blue one day on her doorstep with her two children - and the next day is gone, leaving behind a note and the two offspring.

At first it seems that she may be trying to reconnect with her sister but it quickly emerges she intends to “disappear” - possibly for another relationship although Ambrosioni leaves her purpose deliberately ambiguous.

Instead the main thrust is about how Jeanne will cope with being forced to bring up two children she barely knows, and the effect the situation has on the youngsters. Suzanne also has to confront the departure of her own lover from her life, leaving her in a precarious and vulnerable position.

In France if you decide to voluntarily disappear, the police have no authority to help to find you, whatever the circumstances as long as there is no criminality involved.

Ambrosioni sensitively handles the process of this family eventually coming together while the authorities are less than helpful with regard to the predicament of a woman who has become a single mother through no desire of her own, but rather out of the necessity of circumstances.

Cottin delivers a superbly nuanced performance, whether she’s trying to “negotiate” terms with the children or in one immensely moving scene in floods of tears at the loss of her partner. Ambrosioni extracts lived-in performances from Cottin and the whole cast which lifts what could have been a straight-forward drama into a profound and moving portrait of families and motherhood.

Ambrosioni displays a confident maturity in tackling what to many might be a taboo subject - that some women are not necessarily born with natural maternal instincts - even if the father usually is the one to crack first and go off into the sunset.

The script has been beautifully honed and manages to give important screen time to lesser characters such as Monia Chokri as Jeanne’s girlfriend on the verge of a break-up. Ambrosioni shows he has a real empathy and understanding of female characters - no mean feat as they are almost double his age.

Source