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Wow. What an outstanding debut by Emmanuelle Nicot. Belgian drama cinema is flying at the moment and this co-production with France (in French) is more of the same. The content is bleak at times but there is nothing disturbing image wise, it is purely about the drama.
Synopsis: "One evening, Dalva is suddenly taken away from her father’s house. Dumbfounded and outraged at first, she later meets Jayden, a social worker, and Samia, a teen with a temper. A new life seems to start for Dalva, that of a girl her age."
Zelda Samson gives not just one of the best young performances of recent times but perhaps the performance of the year as the titular character who is suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome in the grasp of her father's controlling ways. It's a film that is hard not to spoil as it's key theme is at the forefront of the whole film, but it is so tenderly dealt with by Nicot, who also wrote it. What an incredible talent.
There are many close ups of Dalva and it's her headspace that we focus on and not the criminal, which makes the audience zoom in on the victim side of the crimes. We see Dalva in he recovery as she tries to make new friends and gain an understanding of something which is so difficult for her to comprehend. The final scene in a court room is a tearjerker.
This is a great film.
9/10
'Love According to Dalva' (2013)
Wow. What an outstanding debut by Emmanuelle Nicot. Belgian drama cinema is flying at the moment and this co-production with France (in French) is more of the same. The content is bleak at times but there is nothing disturbing image wise, it is purely about the drama.
Synopsis: "One evening, Dalva is suddenly taken away from her father’s house. Dumbfounded and outraged at first, she later meets Jayden, a social worker, and Samia, a teen with a temper. A new life seems to start for Dalva, that of a girl her age."
Zelda Samson gives not just one of the best young performances of recent times but perhaps the performance of the year as the titular character who is suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome in the grasp of her father's controlling ways. It's a film that is hard not to spoil as it's key theme is at the forefront of the whole film, but it is so tenderly dealt with by Nicot, who also wrote it. What an incredible talent.
There are many close ups of Dalva and it's her headspace that we focus on and not the criminal, which makes the audience zoom in on the victim side of the crimes. We see Dalva in he recovery as she tries to make new friends and gain an understanding of something which is so difficult for her to comprehend. The final scene in a court room is a tearjerker.
This is a great film.
9/10