Overview
- The feature debut adapts Annie Ernaux’s memoir, premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, and is seeking U.S. distribution.
- Critics single out Tess Barthélemy’s performance as the 17-year-old Annie in 1958, calling it unflinching and central to the film’s impact.
- Reviews emphasize the film’s focus on the grey area between consent and coercion and on how social shaming inflicts lasting trauma.
- Outlets note Valérie Dréville’s narration as an older Ernaux and praise close, point-of-view camerawork and stylized party sequences that stress Annie’s interiority.
- Some reviewers criticize a closing coda that tries to place the personal story within a sweeping feminist arc.