A Radiant Girl () is a 2021 French drama film written and directed by Sandrine Kiberlain in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Rebecca Marder as a young Jewish girl aspiring to become an actress during the occupation of France. The film premiered in the Critics' Week section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Caméra d'Or.
Premise
In 1942, 19-year-old Irène is a young Jewish girl living in Paris. She has a passion for theatre and dreams of becoming an actress. Irène rehearses Marivaux's L'Épreuve to prepare for an entrance exam to the conservatory.
Cast
Rebecca Marder as Irène
André Marcon as André, Irène's father
Anthony Bajon as Igor, Irène's brother
India Hair as Viviane, Irène's friend
Françoise Widhoff as Marceline, Irène's grandmother
Florence Viala as Josiane, a neighbor
Ben Attal as Jo
Cyril Metzger as Jacques
Jean Chevalier as Gilbert
Production
In May 2017, Sandrine Kiberlain revealed in an interview with Elle magazine that she would be preparing her first feature film and that it was to be a long-term project, which would require a lot of time and work. In an interview with Gala magazine, Kiberlain called the film "extremely personal" and explained, "I had the story in me for ten years, and it took me a long year to write it, alone."
Filming began on 17 July 2020 in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, for a period of 5 weeks. Filming concluded in August 2020 in Vexin, which included shots at Nesles-la-Vallée on the Sausseron river, as well as a road between Hédouville and Ronquerolles in the Val-d'Oise department.
Release
The film was selected as a special screening in the Critics' Week section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 8 July 2021. It had its theatrical release in France through Ad Vitam Distribution on 26 January 2022.
Reception
Critical response
A Radiant Girl received an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 28 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10.
Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily praised the "highly appealing effusiveness" of Marder's performance but criticized Kiberlain's stylistic choices and the film's "heavy-handed" conclusion: "A Radiant Girl is highly theatrical [...] in its emphasis on the nature of stage performance – which often gets the film bogged down in backstage discussion of a sort that can too easily feel alienating to film audiences. This only adds to the awkwardness of a film that - especially in its treatment of one of the gravest topics in modern French history - ultimately feels as callow as its heroine."