Milla (Vaérie Massadian, 2017): France/Portugal

Reviewed by Markus Linecker. Viewed at the AFI Filmfest 2017.

Milla, a 17-year-old teenager, lives with her rather insecure boyfriend Leo in a vacant house. Even though they are homeless, Milla has a very positive outlook toward the future. She is in love with Leo, who only reciprocates partially. Rather, he focuses on his stacks of books, seemingly trying to create normalcy in his surroundings, and working odd jobs like going out on fishing boats.  When Milla becomes pregnant, life become very different. Though not a documentary, this actor actually was a pregnant, homeless teen, bringing home the poignancy of the situation.

Through all of this, director Valérie Massadian has created a character study of the growing problem of teenage homelessness and pregnancy.  As the director’s sophomore feature, the film seems presented in three parts: love, real life, and hope. Love is shown in the relationship of Milla and Leo. Real life is when they deal with the aspects of separation, change and becoming an adult. In the final, hopeful part, Milla’s child is born, and it shows the love between mother and son.  Milla is played by 17-year-old Severine Jonckeere who is not an actress but an actual teenage mother.  It also helps that her real life child is her son in the film, which makes her performance so natural and realistic. Leo is played by Massadian’s son Luc Chessel, known for films like Low Life and Fort Buchanan. The character Leo is very much self-focused without any ideas about his future. He somehow accepts Milla’s love for him but also feels at a distance from her.

The film is beautifully shot with long takes and not a lot of camera movements. In addition there are never more than two individuals present on-screen, so the audience really can enjoy and study the characters’ dialectical interactions.   Massadian’s portrait of different emotive stages of happiness, grief, and hope in  beautiful imagery reflects each of these emotions. It creates the feeling of total surrender to life, which becomes liberating and paints a narrative in which the audience appreciate all aspects of life.