GIRL POWER!

RIVIÈRE

2023 / 105 min / color

17-year-old Manon (played by the highly talented Flavie Delangle) has a definite plan for her life. She wants her future to be all about ice hockey, a sport that suits her temperament and allows her to vent her anger. She’s full of pent-up emotions, which soon lead her to run away from her home in the Swiss mountains and travel to France by herself. Her goal is to find her long-lost father. For Manon the trip turns into an accelerated crash course in adulthood. It’s a great opportunity to come to terms with her difficult past, but also to think about what lies ahead. Uncertainty, a sense of loss, the search for her place in life — concerns and emotions familiar to so many teenagers — become the most important themes of Hugues Hariche’s poignant film. The creative force behind one of the most interesting works at the most recent Locarno festival, Hariche has said he was keen to show the typical dilemmas of a character at this age. In a world where everything is available but nothing is given away for free, everything must be fought for.