Une jeune fille qui va bien

Irène is 19, a budding actress, has lovely friends, a new love interest, a caring grandmother and a sometimes grumpy father. Everything could go well, as the French title suggests - ‘tout va bien’. She is so caught up in all the private matters that she doesn't realise or doesn't want to realise the political: it is Paris in 1942 and she is Jewish. Director Sandrine Kiberlain does not show us a stereotypical Hollywood-style Shoah film, but the real lives of young Jewish women at a time of growing anti-Semitic threats. She doesn't explain the existence of National Socialism, occupation and collaboration (because that's what the audience should know), but takes as her starting point the hope, joy and celebration of a young girl. (Frank Stern)