Twelve-year-old Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) likes to get the most out of the holiday season, in the Alps that loom above his nondescript town. The little tyke is a very adept thief, stealing skis and ski gear on the slopes, then selling them to his neighbours. Simon’s entrepreneurial cut and thrust is at odds with his purpose, which is merely to provide for himself and his 20-something sister Louise (Léa Seydoux), who despite her age is the childlike dependent of this unusual family unit, unable to hold down a job, wasting her time – and their money – with the local boys.
Director Ursula Meier’s first film, Home, concerned a family that slowly loses its marbles when a motorway is opened next to their house. The family ties in that film are reasonably stable, before the pressure of traffic, dirt and noise tear them apart. Here, the relatonship between Simon and Louise is a strange one to start with, becoming more so as the film progresses.
Like the Dardennes brothers, Meier creates an unflashy, yet mesmerising realism, focused on under-privileged people struggling to make ends meet. Actually, her boy brings to mind one of the brothers’ great creations, the spiky young hero of The Kid With a Bike. The comparisons are well-deserved. Scotland’s Martin Compston lends a nice performance as a cook who sees a profit for himself in the boy’s antics, and Gillian Anderson has a sharp cameo as a wealthy holidaymaker who sparks Simon’s yearning for a mother. But like the little thief he plays, Kacey Mottet Klein steals the show.
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