«Amanda», from anguish to hope2 reading minutes

Cinema Wednesdays - Loris S. Musumeci

«- Is Mom still asleep?
- She's not here.»

Parisian life, happy life. Amanda spends a normal childhood with her mom. David, her twenty-four-year-old uncle, makes the most of seeing his sister and niece, who adores him. Despite his hectic life, always in a hurry, between odd jobs and arrangements, David maintains a close relationship with his sister. Since she's on her own to raise her daughter, he lends a hand as best he can. But one day everything falls apart. The terror of a terrorist attack hits Paris. Amanda no longer has a mother, and David is forced to become a father prematurely. Uncle and niece learn to live together, despite the difficulties, and the wounds of the past still open.

Amanda is an eminently touching story, given its synopsis. However, the film is not just about sentiment. Above all, it creates a very Parisian atmosphere, with bicycles parading from one end of the city to the other. Symbolizing the carefree spirit of a free-spirited existence, full of adventure and surprises, where people are always on the run, but still have time for leisure and conviviality. Mikhaël Hers's direction also shows a battered Paris, an empty city in which the characters are filmed with more distance between them. Defiance and fear are the order of the day.

The film still extracts what everyday life is like for people, in both normality and drama. From «Bah, yeah» to «O.K.», the script immerses the viewer in a bath of everyday life, leaving it up to the excellent actors - including a remarkable Vincent Lacoste - to make their reality and banality shine through on screen.

And there's more to come. Amanda, is also the story of the perhaps impossible love between David and Léna. She's played by Stacy Martin, who never fails to combine her natural sensuality with the depth of a character who suffers and goes on despite it all. It's a story of a love between David and his niece that is still very much needed. The diminutive actress Isaure Multrier doesn't let up either, taking on the role of Amanda, who goes through all states of mind, from generous gratitude to weary caprice.

Finally, the film delivers a real lesson in practical philosophy, asking questions as obvious as they are difficult, such as what it is to be a father, what it is to be a son, what it is to choose to love, what it is to never be ready. A final compliment to the cinematography, whose pronounced grain, image modesty and ambient sobriety create a deeply moving framework that eschews sentimentality in favor of authentic emotion. Amanda, In short, it tells us without restraint that while anguish remains, hope surpasses all.

«- And how do you see things?
- I don't know.»

Write to the author : loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © JMH Distributions