The Little Sister (La Petite Dernière)

Fatima, 17, is the youngest child. She lives in the suburbs with her sisters, in a happy and loving family. A good student, she enrols in a philosophy degree in Paris and discovers a whole new world. As she begins her life as a young woman, dating and making friends, she breaks free from her family and traditions. But Fatima then begins to question her identity, wondering how she can reconcile her faith with her attraction to women.

Hafsia Herzi adapts Fatima Daas’ acclaimed autobiographical novel in which love, faith and desire collide.

At first glance, the story’s straightforward chronological progression is too simple for a queer film, not standing out from the many coming-out stories that already exist. But the film’s subtleties lie between the lines. What matters here isn’t whether the young lesbians that populate the story are comfortable in their own skin or are open about their sexuality.

An actress herself, Herzi always directs actors well, and she makes these characters unusually nuanced, lively and credible. For her naturalistic performance as Fatima, Nadia Melliti, who won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

This screening is supported by the French Embassy in Ireland.