La Gradiva

LA GRADIVA by Marine Atlan, with Colas Quignard, Antonia Bures, Suzanne Gerin and Mitia Capellier-Audat

Final-year students at a Parisian secondary school are on a train to Naples for a school trip. On the train, two of them exchange tender moments. They are secretly watched by another boy and another girl, each unaware of the other’s presence. It is a film about glances and fantasies, inspired by a novella by Wilhelm Jensen of the same title: ‘Gradiva’ was the fantasy of an archaeologist in love with a bas-relief – possibly from Pompeii – depicting an unknown young woman whom he christened Gradiva. The 1903 short story owes its fame to Sigmund Freud’s interest; he studied the case as if a patient had just recounted it to him on the couch. Projections and fantasies, in simple terms. Put more bluntly, we fall in love with an image. Marine Atlan offers her own take here – it is her first film after years as a director of photography. The fair-haired Toni recounts the story of his Neapolitan ancestors: perhaps true, perhaps fabricated, perhaps half and half. His grandmother, a young girl working as a servant for a very rich man, who falls in love with her the moment he sees her. An earthquake strikes; his grandmother – who is pregnant – was outside and rushes home: not a single wall remains standing. The students observe the Greek statues, studying their anatomy. They are all in love with Toni, except for one girl who is convinced she is too ugly to attract attention, so she reads books. The teacher is passionate; the students are portrayed with wisdom and realism.