Probably the best Canadian film of 2018, Philippe Lesage’s audacious, double-focused coming-of-age drama follows the differing trajectories of Salinger-reading 16-year-old Guillaume (Théodore Pellerin, riveting) and his older, more hedonistic half-sister Charlotte (Noée Abita), as both navigate the minefields of romance and sexual actualisation. Guillaume is struggling with his feelings for boarding-school classmate Nicolas, a jock-ish type, while Charlotte’s seemingly strong relationship with her boyfriend Maxime suffers a shock when he suggests that a lifetime is perhaps too long a time to stay together… Lesage and his strong cast bring rare intimacy and thrilling vibrancy to a sometimes emotionally harsh story, and the director caps it with a bold coda that brings the meaning of the title into clear focus. This is filmmaking of the first rank.

‘A yearning, bruising vision… Lent human depth and texture by Lesage’s documentary background, this… is uncommonly tender, nervy coming-of-age storytelling… Cinematographer Nicolas Canniccioni… wields a distant, implacable gaze on scenes rife with movement and conflict, from sports practice to pillow fights to acts of unconscionable violence; Lesage’s filmmaking, with its unhurried editing and eerily echoing music cues, is in expert sympathy with his hovering, out-of-time protagonists… Lyrical and horrifying.’—Guy Lodge, Variety