Celine Sciamma's follow-up to the beloved Portrait of a Lady on Fire is unfortunately one I've got mixed feelings about.
It undeniably has a unique premise, gets some great performances out of its young actors, and is very well shot (great use of colours, outdoor locations, and lighting just as in Portrait). But for whatever reason, I found this to be a really tedious watch, despite its short length.
Scenes stretch on for an eternity, the pacing feels deliberately glacial, and the lack of music really hurt it, in my opinion. Comparing it to Portrait, the lack of music in that one until near the end felt like an artistic choice that paid off, but an almost identical strategy is used here and it just feels uninspired (it's a great scene, and just made me wish there'd been some more music in the film to give it just a tiny bit more life).
For as well made as it is in many respects, it was just too slow and uninvolving with its story for me. I can't rate it too low because of how good the two young twins are, and how great the visuals can be, but the areas I liked weren't enough to keep me interested or invested for the whole runtime. Without a little extra something added into the narrative, I think this would have worked better as a short film.
It undeniably has a unique premise, gets some great performances out of its young actors, and is very well shot (great use of colours, outdoor locations, and lighting just as in Portrait). But for whatever reason, I found this to be a really tedious watch, despite its short length.
Scenes stretch on for an eternity, the pacing feels deliberately glacial, and the lack of music really hurt it, in my opinion. Comparing it to Portrait, the lack of music in that one until near the end felt like an artistic choice that paid off, but an almost identical strategy is used here and it just feels uninspired (it's a great scene, and just made me wish there'd been some more music in the film to give it just a tiny bit more life).
For as well made as it is in many respects, it was just too slow and uninvolving with its story for me. I can't rate it too low because of how good the two young twins are, and how great the visuals can be, but the areas I liked weren't enough to keep me interested or invested for the whole runtime. Without a little extra something added into the narrative, I think this would have worked better as a short film.