Director Nathan Ambrosioni Is Someone we Should Look Out For
This year’s competition of ten films of the Lecce European Film Festival showcased the variety of feature films. Nevertheless, they all share a sense for personal, perhaps political stories. One director stands out – not only for being the youngest director in the competition – but also for his strong sense of not going bold, but silent. For this subtle approach in Out of Love (Les enfants vont bien), Nathan Ambrosioni won the award as Best Director at 59th Karlovy Vary IFF, where the film premiered this year.
Nathan Ambrosioni, born in 1999 in Grasse, France, has started his cinematic journey at just twelve years making horror films like Hostile and The Lake (Au bord du lac) during school vacations. He soon turned to more intimate stories with the love story Avec toi, realized in 2015 for the 48 Hour Film Project – Côte d’Azur. In 2016, his short film First Breath (Ce qui nous reste) marked a shift to drama, telling the story of Emmy, a girl who wakes from a coma and no longer recognizes her sister. Here, Ambrosioni first masterfully combined drama with a subtle element of horror – just enough to let the audience understand Emmy a little bit better.
This was followed by several short films and the medium-length Three Days in September (Trois jours en septembre), before his first feature film, Paper Flags (Les drapeaux de papier), solidified his style: confident imagery, careful storytelling, and a distinct tenderness in portraying challenging times. The film tells the story of a man just released from prison who moves in with his sister, again focusing on family dynamics.
His next feature, Toni (Toni, en famille), Ambrosioni works with Camille Cottin, who plays a loving and caring mother, raising five children by herself. Her life is quite instable, she works as a singer in bars, here latest hit single being 20 years ago. When she realizes that her children are preparing for their future, she starts to care for her own future and decides to attend classes at a university. Ambrosioni wanted to write a “love letter to Toni”, showing love and cohesion and not accusing. A message that is also conveyed in Out of Love, his third feature film.
The film tackles a haunting reality: around 15,000 people decide to disappear in France each year. They go missing voluntarily. So does Jeannes sister Suzanne (Juliette Armanet), who suddenly shows up with her children (Nina Birman, Manoâ Varvat) at Jeannes house. After one night she leaves a goodbye letter to her sister Jeanne (Camille Cottin). Out of Love poses the question of what it means, when someone leaves their own family life without a trace and how people, the police and bureaucracy deal with it. Ambrosioni, who also wrote the screenplay tells a story about the absence and presence of a person at the same time. While Suzanne is absent, she is present in her sisters mind, as Jeanne desperately searches for her. Even the children try to feel close to their absent mother by ordering the canned peaches that their mother loved. At the same time, you feel the love they all share for the absent mother, but also with each other. While Jeanne investigates where her sister might be.
Out of Love doesn’t push emotions, instead it’s using wide shots for a more naturalistic style. The camera stays with the family, tells us about unexpected motherhood and regretted life decisions. Additionally, it tells a queer love story and explores the boundaries of love. Ambrosioni also lets silence speak and sets a quiet and powerful statement on how films can be made.
Susanne Gietl
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