This intimate coming-of-age film follows a group of French high school seniors on a trip to Pompeii, transporting viewers into an arena of eternal ruin and decay to watch them transition into an uncertain future. The messy, hormonally-charged teenagers explore desires and fears, ambitions and hesitations, romantic entanglements and rivalries—big feelings all rendered with weight and poetry in the skillful hands of director Marine Atlan.

As their journey progresses, the dynamics of the ensemble shift, with pressure building between the students as they spend time in close proximity and confront the hidden economic realities that structure their social lives. Characters are bathed in southern Italy’s hazy sunlight as they navigate interpersonal tensions and hold political arguments about class, balancing visual poetry with an intellectual rigor that acknowledges the rich inner lives of teenagers. The film takes its title from Gradiva by Wilhelm Jensen, a novel that became the basis for a Freud essay on psychoanalysis in 1907 and continues to inspire works on fantasy and the unconscious today.

A sensitivity arises from the natural performances and a documentary-like approach to shooting, balancing perspectives between individuals and the group with ease. Known for her work as a cinematographer in THUNDER and JESSICA FOREVER, Atlan marks her feature debut with a potent story that captures the fleeting nature of adolescence and summer with sensuality and vitality.

—Robyn Citizen, Toronto International Film Festival guide