La belle année

"The grace, emotional connection and delicate charm of Swedish-French director Angelica Ruffier’s debut documentary is connected in no small measure with the very identifiable way in which a return to one’s past – prompted, in this case, by the death of a father – can unleash a search for what we were, and what we’ve become. The narrative that director/protagonist Angelica homes in on is a teenage crush she had on a high school history teacher in France, before she and her family moved back to her mother’s native Sweden.

Slipping lithely between documentary and evocative romantic passages with a touch of Eric Rohmer, La Belle Année (’the beautiful year’) keeps its audience guessing. There’s a New Wave romance nestling in here somewhere and, as if sensing this, certain scenes fully embrace cinematic mythmaking. Others are almost home-movie in style, as Angelica and her brother chat while sorting through unopened letters and piles of stuff in the house they have inherited."

Lee Marshall / Screen Daily

Director Angelica Ruffier will be a guest at Espoo Ciné and will attend the film’s screening on Saturday. Ruffier will also take part in the panel discussion True Stories, Personal Emotions – Carving Art out of Life on the terrace at Kino Tapiola on Saturday 22 August, starting at 3.45 pm.