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France · 2020
1h 13m
Director Suzanne Lindon
Starring Suzanne Lindon, Arnaud Valois, Florence Viala, Frédéric Pierrot
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Suzanne is a 16-year-old girl bored with her life. One day, at the theater she passes on her way to school, she falls in love with a 35-year-old actor named Raphael. As she becomes immersed in the world of grown-ups, she begins to question the pitfalls of missing out on a 16-year-old life.
The Film Stage by Christopher Schobert
It takes great maturity and confidence to make a film about the emergence of a young woman’s sexuality that also dares to ask complex, provocative questions while understanding there are no simple answers. Suzanne Lindon is such a filmmaker, and her brisk, entertaining debut Spring Blossom is such a film.
At only 72 minutes, Spring Blossom whizzes by and ends a little abruptly. Some may go away unsatisfied, but others will see in Lindon an impressive young talent to be reckoned with.
Throughout her directorial debut, Suzanne Lindon paints a concise and truthful portrait of her protagonist’s feelings of estrangement.
The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer
The fact that Lindon doesn’t judge the situation as much as she simply shows it is a sign of her intelligence as a promising young filmmaker — one who has both dared to expose herself onscreen and then dared to let the audience judge for themselves.
When Lindon isn’t at the mercy of her but-I’m-a-teenager ruse, Spring Blossom and its filmmaker get a chance to show off some real creative sparks, including a trio of musical numbers that offer cinematic style and emotional flair.
Los Angeles Times by Katie Walsh
Lindon’s youth is remarkable, because her point of view on the experience of the teenage girl is so immediate. But such a confident and self-assured debut would be remarkable for a filmmaker of any age, as “Spring Blossom” is a finely wrought, sensitively felt and artistically bold work.
In creating material so close to her lived experience, Lindon is able to avoid the common clichés of teenage stories.
Where some might praise an Eric Rohmer-style lightness of touch, others might see a certain slightness. And at barely 70 minutes, this is a fleeting affair in every sense. Perhaps that’s the point.
As a gently exploratory portrait of adolescence, Spring Blossom is tender, amiable and sweetly played, but it doesn’t risk (or say) all that much.
Lindon creates a portrait of first love which is fresh, honest and engaging.
Let the Magic Begin.
In the beginning...
One theater. Its last screening. No room to escape.