Soleil battant

The first pictures show the perfect family : a vacation in Portugal , dad's native land , where their two adorable twin girls have a good time .

Although she promised she would never tell the daughters her secret , one day ,Iris lets the cat out of the bag : they had a little girl before them ,who fell into the pool and got drowned : her brother-in-law, Miguel ,was supposed to keep an eye on her ;since ,the parents (mainly the father) never forgave him (he is almost absent in the film).

And the unfortunate parents never really got over their bereavement : they fear something may happen to the twins too ; they tenderly poison them with protection , "easy with the swing "says the father ;although they are at the seaside ,one never sees them bathing ....

The mother is a believer and has taken refuge in religion : "your little sister is in Heaven and she protects you,she's your guardian angel ";but daddy is an atheist ; and mom is bombarded with questions :"where did she go then?"

The couple sat in their fears ,but these fears never went away : when the twins disappear , both are panick-stricken : the film shows them going at a peak of anguish in their motorboat ,in the middle of water , the maleficent element ; later on, on her hospital bed , the drowning comes back to haunt the mom ...

Even the last sequence is ambiguous : will they refuse to sever the umbilical cord forever?

Well acted , the children are really well directed,and the Laperrousaz sisters ,for their first real full-length feature , chose a very interesting subject ,treated with an acute sense of propriety.