Montparnasse Bienvenue
Léonor Serraille wrote and directed Montparnasse Bienvenue (French: Jeune Femme, ‘Young Woman’) a serio-comedy about the struggles of a young women to rebuild her life.
It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 70th Cannes Film Festival and won the Caméra d’Or.
Premise:
The film stars Lætitia Dosch as Paula, a woman who recently returned to Paris after years living abroad, forced to forge new life for herself after being abruptly dumped by wealthy boyfriend.
After her wealthy boyfriend Joachim locks her out of their shared apartment, Paula screams and is taken to a mental ward. Escaping the ward, she returns to the apartment and discovers that he has locked out her cat as well.
Having recently returned from years in Mexico, Paula has no job and no friends. After exhausting the little money she has, and angering her friends, she turns to the mother she had run away from, only to be quickly rejected.
While riding the subway, she meets a woman named Yuki, who mistakes her for former classmate. Desperate for help, Paula plays along and allows Yuki to buy her groceries.
Paula manages to lie her way into a live-in nanny job with no qualifications for. She takes second job working at lingerie store, where she befriends Osman, a standoffish security guard who warns her that the women at that store never last long.
A series of setbacks follows.
While her relationship with Lila, the child she is nannying, begins to warm up, her relationship with Lila’s mother grows colder.
Lila’s mother forces her get rid of her cat, which she gives to Osman.
Just as Paula begins to forget about Joachim, she discovers that she is pregnant with his child. However, despite precarious financial situation and lack of support system, she contemplates keeping the child.
Yuki accidentally discovers that Paula is not her former classmate and Paula tearfully apologizes and offers to reimburse her for the money. Yuki forgives her and the two have sex.
On the verge of being fired, Paula returns to her mother’s house, refusing to be sent away and finally reconnecting with her.
Joachim tracks her down to the mall, and over dinner, he offers to take care of her and their child. After the dinner, she goes to Osman’s house to collect her cat.
When she tells Joachim about her decision to have abortion, he attempts to rape her but she fights him off.
In the upbeat ending, a new chapter begins: Paula has an abortion and leaves her nannying job.
Cast
Lætitia Dosch as Paula
Grégoire Monsaingeon as Joachim
Souleymane Seye Ndiaye as Osman
Léonie Simaga as Yuki
Erika Sainte as Lila’s mother
Lilas-Rose Gilberti-Poisot as Lila
Audrey Bonnet as doctor
Nathalie Richard as Paula’s mother
Credits:
Directed, written by Léonor Serraille
Produced by Sandra da Fonseca
Cinematography Emilie Noblet
Edited by Clémence Carré
Music by Julie Roué
Production company: Blue Monday Productions
Distributed by Shellac
Release dates: May 23, 2017 (Cannes) Nov 1, 2017 (France)
Running time 97 minutes
Budget $1.2 million
Box office $423,747
Caméra d’Or winning films
1978-1979
Alambrista! (1978)
Northern Lights (1979)
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My 20th Century (1989)
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Año bisiesto (2010)
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Montparnasse Bienvenue (2017)
Girl (2018)
Our Mothers (2019)
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No Award (2020)
Murina (2021)
