Suzanne

Nicolas is a lorry driver who raised his two daughters alone. Suzanne and Maria are very close. Suzanne becomes pregnant young and has the child; she raises her son with her father and her sister. Then she meets a man. Julien deals in small crime and Suzanne goes with him. She leaves her son. Years pass; prison, escape, return and disappearance again. The family waits for her each time. The film proceeds in long intervals and does not narrate the years between; sometimes five years pass between two scenes. Katell Quillévéré directs and co-wrote the screenplay. Sara Forestier plays Suzanne, François Damiens her father and Adèle Haenel her sister. It is a French production. Its form is ellipsis; the film shows not the decisions but their consequences and gives no reasons. Adèle Haenel won the César for supporting actress for the part. The matter it treats is the price of loving a person; the narrative builds that not through Suzanne but through her family. The father is its centre of gravity and François Damiens plays the part almost without words. The narrative does not judge Suzanne and does not explain her decisions; the gap is deliberate. Its limit is form; the jumps are abrupt and some turning points arrive unprepared. Who it is for: viewers who like French family drama and narrative built on ellipsis. Who it is not for: the characters' reasons are withheld, the register heavy, and the ending bitter.