A Wider Angle Film Series: A RADIANT GIRL

For August, A Wider Angle, our monthly foreign and independent film series, will screen the 2021 French film A Radiant Girl, directed by veteran French actress Sandrine Kiberlain in her directorial debut. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Caméra d'Or award, a category for best first feature films from directors.

A Radiant Girl (in French, Une jeune fille qui va bien) is a coming-of-age story set in Nazi-controlled 1942 Paris about an aspiring young Jewish actress, Irène (Rebecca Marder, a César Award nominee for Most Promising Actress for her performance), whose infectious optimism and carefree attitude are set against a backdrop of impending doom. While the film is a period piece, the filmmaker chooses not to focus on the period details of the cast's wardrobe or the technology of the era, connecting the story in a more immediate way to our own times. Ultimately, the story leaves viewers with the timeless message of the danger of complacency in the face of the ascendancy of fascism.

In French with English subtitles. (Running time 98 minutes)

For a review of the film, click https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-radiant-girl-movie-review-2023

A Wider Angle film series is made possible through funding provided by the Friends of the Library.