1:54
2016 · Directed by Yan England
Original language: French
- drama
The story
Tim, a shy 16-year-old athlete with a natural gift for running, is dealing with the loss of his mother, as well as his sexuality. After a personal video is posted to social media, Tim's private life is about to explode into the public eye.
What it’s like
Cool, overcast light sits over school corridors, locker rooms and a grieving household, with handheld cameras that stay close to a shy teenager's face and then break open into long tracking shots of him running, where the soundtrack drops to breath, footfalls and wind. The palette is muted, with greys, pale blues and dull institutional colours that warm only in moments of tenderness. The pace is steady and observational, letting quiet domestic scenes breathe before school pressures tighten. The emotional register is melancholy and tense, following a young athlete learning to hold his grief and his identity while his private life is exposed to classmates. Intensity is moderate and realistic: homophobic taunting, bullying and a harsh, sudden act of school violence that lands with real weight, plus some self-harm-adjacent distress and a few brief, nonexplicit romantic moments. Not gentle, but not gratuitous. It suits a grey afternoon or a late evening, and it is for viewers who want an earnest coming-of-age drama about sport, loss and coming out, with the stakes felt in the body rather than spelled out.
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