Catherine Corsini's Le Retour, an intimate drama on the island of beauty: our opinion

Published by Nathanaël de Sortiraparis · Published on July 9th, 2023 at 01:50 p.m.
Presented in Official Competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, The Return, directed by Catherine Corsini, competed for the Palme d'Or and the Queer Palm. It will be released on July 12, 2023.

Le Retour, directed by Catherine Corsini, has been selected for the official competition at the Cannes 2023 Film Festival, and will be released in cinemas this Wednesday, July 12. The drama focuses on Khedidja, a woman in her forties, and her two daughters, Jessica and Farah. Together, they return to Corsica after a 15-year absence following a tragic event. All three women are profoundly affected by their return, and their lives are changed.

Winner of the Queer Palm for her last film, La Fracture, Corsini returns to the competition with this intimate drama about a family shattered by lies. A mother who has left everything behind for the happiness of her daughters, the eldest who dreams of being a class defector, and the youngest, a turbulent and troubled teenager who does one silly thing after another to get noticed.

What interests the filmmaker in this film is obviously the perversion of the secret, and the consequences of its revelation. Not everything in the film works, and it would undoubtedly have benefited from a slightly shorter running time, but its strength lies in its impeccable casting. The two young girls, played by Esther Gohourou and Suzy Bemba, are the great revelations of this film, where the stars (Denis Podalydès and Virginie Ledoyen) take a back seat.

The film left the Cannes Film Festival empty-handed and was marred by a number of scandals in the press, but the gesture is touching, if imperfect.

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Practical information

Dates and Opening Time
Starts July 12th, 2023

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