Set Me Free

Quebec, 1963. Hannah is entering adolescence inside a difficult family when she becomes fixated on a film then newly in cinemas, Godard’s Vivre sa vie. The more she models herself on the woman on the screen, the harder she works at understanding her own desire and where she belongs. Léa Pool moved the story to Quebec and softened it, but still calls it the most autobiographical of her films. Karine Vanasse took her first major role here, and the picture was named the year’s best Canadian feature by the country’s critics. It handles adolescent sexuality with curiosity and unease, and without turning it into a display.