Departure

Beatrice comes with her son to the holiday house in the south of France. The house is to be sold and must be packed up within a week. The father does not come; the marriage is over but nobody says so plainly. Elliot is fifteen, writes poems and spends too much time with his mother. He sees Clément in the village; his own age, French and distant. The two start meeting. Beatrice notices Clément too. As the house is packed into boxes something unsaid grows between the three of them. Andrew Steggall writes and directs; it is his first feature. Juliet Stevenson plays Beatrice, Alex Lawther plays Elliot and Phénix Brossard plays Clément; Finbar Lynch is in the cast. It is a British and French co-production. The matter it treats is the closing of a house; the move is both the ground and the metaphor. The narrative builds no event; the scenes proceed on waiting and on looks. The relation between mother and son is its most strained side; both are looking at the same person. Alex Lawther drew notice for the part and went on to better known work. The photography rests on natural light and the place is built in empty frames. The narrative holds adolescence and a middle aged crisis on the same plane. The ending offers no explanation and the relations stay suspended. Its limit is pace; the narrative is very slow, the load of symbol heavy, and the ending unresolved. Who it is for: viewers who like British independent cinema and quiet drama. Who it is not for: it is slow, closed, and the ending open.