Cannes Review: ‘Love According to Dalva’ by Emmanuelle Nicot

Childcare is a tough subject, but Belgian director Emmanuel Nicot takes a sensitive approach during Critics’ Week. i like to drink. The key here is perspective: almost everything is shown from the perspective of a victim in care who is unaware that they are being abused. Seeing the truth slowly gives this film real suspense, but also offers an opportunity for healing and enlightenment.

Dalva (Zelda Samson) is a 12-year-old girl who dresses like a grown woman, puts on makeup, and doesn’t expect to be treated like a child. She fears that she has been separated from her father and taken to a makeshift center for troubled youth. She worries even more when she learns that her father has been arrested. Gradually, it becomes clear that she believes the “love” Dalva is showing is perfectly normal: she hid from the world and plunged into a relationship she thought was consensual.

This is still a difficult area, but Nikot greatly sympathizes with the boy’s confusion. This is actually a brainwashed girl. A lot depends on Samson’s performance, and she delivers by going from stocky mini adult to thin young woman. While not an overt depiction of the abuse, there are some shocking scenes that reveal much more than the dialogue could begin with, starting with how he drank to meet his father in prison and ending with how he treated youth worker Jayden (Alex). Manant). ).

Jayden is a great character: a fat, silly man some kids call a “terminator,” but a loving and talented person who’s clearly trying to drink the right beverage. Another shocking affair develops with Dalva’s roommate (Fanta Giras), whose mother is a prostitute. The initial hostility of Samia is a clear sign that the couple will eventually reunite: she is not afraid of feelings, she just stays on the right and remembers. short term 12 Because this will lead to the tests and troubles of the institution.

As much as Dalva opens up expectations for him, in addition to insults, he will also say something about gender and patriarchy. The father’s own psychological difficulty manifests itself in all its horror. to drink It’s not always an easy watch, but it’s a rewarding and thought-provoking watch that marks Nikot as an up-and-coming talent.