Inspired by his own family history, Fabien Gorgeart‘s heartfelt, heartbreaking second feature focuses on an excruciating period of transition in one family’s life.  Anna, her husband and their two young sons are told they must gradually, definitively, hand 6-year-old Simon — the foster child they’ve raised since he was 18 months old — over to his “real” father.  Powerless before a social services system that seems to take all factors into consideration, yet remains oblivious to the powerful emotional ties that inevitably form between abandoned children and their caregivers, they have no choice but to acquiesce and allow that bond to be unceremoniously torn apart.  Mélanie Thierry, as Anna, is the very heart of the film.  Her rich, complex, finely-calibrated performance expresses all the anguish and conflicted feelings her entire family is silently contending with in this plaintive ode to mother love.

The film won both the Jury Prize and a Best Actress Award for Mélanie Thierry at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival.  Thierry was also honored with the Best Performance Award at the Namur International Festival of French Film.

Genrre:  Drama
Run time:  102 inin
Country:  France
Language:  French w/English subtitles
Premiere:  Palm Springs
Director:: Fabien Gorgeart
Writer:: Fabien Gorgeart
Producers:  Marie Dubas (Deuxième Ligne Films), Jean des Forêts & Amélie Jacquis (Petit Film)
Cinematographer:: Julien Hirsch
Film Editor:: Damien Maestraggi
Original Score: Gabriel des Forêts
Principal Cast: Mélanie Thierry (Anna), Lyès Salem (Driss), Félix Moati (Eddy Carniero), Gabriel Pavie (Simon), Idriss Laurentin-Khelifi (Adrien), Basile Violette (Jules), Florence Muller (Nabila), Dominique Blanc (the judge)
U.S. Distributor: Distrib Films U.S.