Falcon Lake, a film by Charlotte Le Bon
The film is based on the graphic novel “A Sister” by Bastien Vives, a master of suggestion, which conveys the stumbling awakenings of adolescent desire. The story is a narrative jewel, created by one of the most important authors of the contemporary international graphic novel scene.
Bastien and Chloé spend their summer vacation with their families in a lakeside cabin haunted by a ghost legend. Despite the age difference, a special bond grows between the two teenagers.
Le Bon keeps everything grounded in Falcon Lake. Her direction is unobtrusive, the pacing is measured and the slight supernatural element of the story is restrained until the closing scenes. Cinematographer Kristof Brandl never oversells the picture postcard beauty of the Quebec locations and the visions of rainy days and lakeside gloom enhance that feeling of everyday reality. The end result is a delicate and ultimately touching evocation of first love’s intensity.
ALLAN HUNTER
A weird, wistful coming-of-age debut that is equally charming and chilling. An exceptionally assured first directorial film. Striking, stylish, sweetly scary.
Jessica Kiang
“Falcon Lake” is a handsome, intriguing feature directing debut from Le Bon; a naturalistic teen romance spiked with mystique, thanks to its subtly menacing deep-woods setting and quivering 16 millimeter cinematography by Kristof Brandl.
Beatrice Loayza
Le Bon eschews the typical sunny idealism and saccharine nostalgia of similarly themed films for something darker and more unsettling — at once warmhearted and heartbreaking, something that boldly acknowledges the deep sorrow of young love through the lens of youthful legends and ghost stories crashing headlong into the real world and upsetting the delicate daydream of adolescence.