When It Melts

Veerle Baetens's 2023 Belgian film adapts Lize Spit's bestselling novel. Years after a summer that spun out of control, Eva returns to the village where she grew up, with a block of ice in the boot of her car. In the depth of winter she confronts her past and the people who tormented her. The story runs in two timeframes: Eva at thirteen and Eva now. Baetens was known as an actor; in this first film as director she strikes the balance between showing and not showing violence with great care. The summer heat of the childhood sections and the cold of the present winter carry the film's emotional structure directly. Rosa Marchant's performance as the young Eva is extraordinary. The film screened at Sundance and became Belgium's submission for the Academy Awards. Who it's for: viewers interested in European independent cinema and narratives built on trauma. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content about the sexual abuse of children and suicide, or unable to take an ending that offers no consolation.