MILLA New Auteurs

Milla and her boyfriend Leo are teens living on the fringes in a grey town on the English Channel. They’ve started a damp but cozy home in an abandoned house, and even though times are hard and work opportunities nil, the two are happy, their offbeat personalities harmonious. When Leo takes a job on a fishing boat and Milla becomes pregnant, the two become swept away in a tide of upheaval, and everything changes suddenly. Directed with observational care by Valerie Massadian, with a tone that recalls the empathetic social realism of the Dardenne brothers and yet resonates with a quiet grace all its own, MILLA is the work of a striking new voice in French cinema. – Beth Hanna