Heaven Will Wait

Two teenage girls, two families, the same process. One is being prepared, through a relationship built online, to leave for Syria; the other was stopped and is now under supervision at home. Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar treats radicalisation not as a flaw of character but as a targeted campaign of persuasion: who is sought out, which sentences are used, when the family notices. Sandrine Bonnaire and Noémie Merlant are in the cast. It arrived in France while institutional responses were being argued over and was screened in schools. Its best observation is that the parents blame themselves and that this resolves nothing. Who it is for: viewers who want social drama about contemporary France and radicalisation. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a political frame, since the film keeps the question at family scale.