Released 24 MARCH
his auspicious and enigmatic second feature from French filmmaker Léa Mysius unfurls like an ethereal remix of Stanley Kubrick’s in its fantasy-flecked exploration of a pre-teen girl attempting to comprehend the romantic affiliations of her parents. It’s perhaps not as cutand-dried as that description makes (a title referring – curiously – to a leisure centre in the film) instead employs ellipses, flashbacks and time switches as mechanisms to forge missing pieces from a narrative puzzle which is, from the outset, purposefully misshapen. Vicky (Sally Dramé) is the latch-key, biracial daughter of Adèle Exarchopoulos’ dour aquatic aerobics instructor Joanne and emotionally distant fire-fighter Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue). Both parents appear to be sleepwalking through a marriage of inconvenience, to the extent that you’re left to wonder if they may be play-acting their roles for Vicky’s sake. As an actor, Exarchopoulos is preternaturally good showing you her inner feelings with the minimum of crass emoting.
