SusanLervold

I went into this film completely blind. As others have said, this is a bleak family drama, not an "inspiring", "touching" "comedy", as Amazon tags it.

I thought the story was compelling, the roles well-acted, and the cinematography beautiful (if bleak). Liv Hill played her role as protagonist Sarah masterfully, with a maturity that belies her years, and she absolutely shone in the part. I'm astonished critics didn't give this film more than 40/100, if only because of Hill; while it wasn't a masterpiece, it's DEFINITELY worth a watch.

The only real downside to the film for me is that I wanted more: I wanted to see the protagonist's relationship develop with her drama teacher (Cyril Nri); I had hoped to catch a glimpse of Sarah growing into a comedian, and some kind of resolution of her difficult family/social situation. Alas, there was no epilogue. I wanted more than the sliver of Sarah's life we were presented...but maybe I'm just greedy.

I have a fairly high tolerance for disturbing films and gore, but this movie was simply beyond the pale.

The film is given to us in three acts: before; 15 years later; and "transcendence". All three acts are unnecessarily brutal, and two of the three are difficult to make sense of, as they aren't well fleshed-out (bad pun; sorry) and are presented in short, fast, hard to discern flashbacks. The story sort of comes together in the end, but it was too little, too late. I was left feeling duped, short-changed, and more than a little taken advantage of. Abused, even.

As another viewer asked: WTH is wrong with the French? What on earth is lurking in their collective unconscious? What's the deal with all the misogyny? I, for one, want no part of it.

Is it so difficult to just believe in God and an afterlife, like normal people, ffs? If you can't, then just leave the afterlife to...after. Patience is, after all, a virtue.