- Starring
- Suzanne Lindon, Arnaud Valois, Frédéric Pierrot
- Writer
- Suzanne Lindon
- Director
- Suzanne Lindon
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 74 minutes
- Release Date
- n/a
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
Every once in a while comes a film that just won’t be for certain audiences regardless of how much they try. That being said, this doesn’t necessarily make them good or bad as they can’t mean different things for different people. Spring Blossom, fortunately or not, is one of those films. This French, sort of coming-of-age, romance drama rushes through so much within so little time therefore lacks the development required to make it all work. However in the end, not everyone will surely relate to the film’s story (I am definitely not in the film’s target demographic which isn’t the film’s fault) and central character and the fact will most likely dictate whether or not the film succeeds. The directorial, written, and acting debut of Suzanne Lindon, the film proves that she does have promise. If anything, the film deserves a chance based on that point alone.
Spring Blossom tells the story of a 16 year-old girl named Suzanne (Lindon) who became bored with the people her own age. As a result of her boredom, she suddenly turned to a 35 year-old actor named Raphaël (Valois), an actor who worked at a nearby theatre. Little did they know, each perhaps had more in common than the other realized. However, with the film being told from Suzanne’s perspective, it is unclear how to perceive the narrative as it seemingly consisted of her fantasies involving Raphaël. They appeared to fall in love but there time together for whatever reason just felt odd to the point of unbelievability. Rather, he appeared to simply be filling a void. Ultimately, this fact created an insurmountable disconnect with the character of Suzanne. Despite this, the acting was fine from Lindon and Valois though it was hard to care for either character, especially the latter who was on the thin side while serving mostly as a plot device.
At the end of the day, Spring Blossom may not be for everyone, not that it has to be, but is merely an example of unrealized vision that some people will get better than others.
still courtesy of TIFF
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
