Isabelle Czajka’s first film The Year After was a superb debut, about a young woman approaching adulthood in a France under the thrall of corporate dehumanisation. Her terrific follow-up is warmer and tartly comic but takes those same concerns in a new direction.

The first film’s terrific lead Anaïs Demoustier more than confirms her promise as Julie, eager to make a start in the job market. But she finds herself taking a succession of soul-destroying jobs (the film is especially brittle in its look at the ostensibly hip and ‘human’ PR world) and tangling with a series of wildly unsuitable men. Taking part in a role-playing charade for a job interview, she meets a freewheeling young actor (Pio Marmaï), who shows her another way to live life, outside the nine-to-five rut. The couple hit it off and head for an idyllic existence away from the system, only for reality to catch them unawares.

Drama, outlaw romance and social critique make this a compelling statement from one of French cinema’s vital new voices and Demoustier and Marmaï make a charismatic, hugely watchable pair.

Jonathan Romney,
London Film Festival 

Presented in cooperation with The Embassy of France in Ireland 

Isabelle Czajka will attend the screening