La Gradiva

A rowdy class of French teenagers travels to Pompeii to discover its famed bodies petrified by Vesuvius. Amid sun-dappled ruins and a world suspended in time, desire, unrequited love and adolescent tensions surface with overwhelming intensity.

With her magnificent, awarded debut feature as a director, renowned cinematographer Marine Atlan demonstrates remarkable confidence, capturing the volatility and sensuality of adolescence with extraordinary lucidity.

The film takes its title from Gradiva by Wilhelm Jensen, a novel that became the basis for a Freud essay on psychoanalysis in 1907 and continues to inspire works on fantasy and the unconscious today.

In a bit of a miraculous turn that hasn’t failed to seduce a viewer since it appeared draped in Cannes Film Festival glory, La Gradiva feels both immediate and an instant classic. A gripping screenplay, Atlan’s visual poetry and great instincts, and a group of outstanding young actors: everything’s works.

This film is eligible for the Spirit of the Festival Award for Best Film award and Best Screenplay.

This screening is supported by the French Embassy in Ireland.