Altered Innocence unveiled the official trailer for Astrakan, the French coming-of-age drama film described as “a beautiful and melancholic 16mm character study of troubled youth” starring Mirko Giannini, Jehnny Beth, Bastien Bouillon, Theo Costa-Marini, and Lorine Delin.
Release Date
Directed by David Depesseville, making his narrative feature debut, Astrakan, an official selection of Locarno Film Festival and New Directors/New Films, will be released on September 1st at Laemmle Theaters in L.A. with more cities to follow.
Synopsis
When Samuel, a young orphan, is sent to live with foster parents Marie and Clement, he is gradually forced to face the demons he’s holding on to internally, as well as those that exist within his new family. Swept up in the motions of coming of age for the very first time — falling in love with the girl next door, exploring hobbies and indulging in childhood passions — he also begins to learn of the secrets his foster family are keeping, leading him to question everything around him. As these questions emerge, Samuel is pushed in and out of crippling anguish, bridging a harsh gap between dense realism and feverish fantasy which leads to a stunning and transcendent final act.
Reviews
In their review, The Film Stage called the film ‘a gripping, impressionist rendering of the raw precariousness of youth‘, writing, “In press notes Depessville references Maurice Pialat’s Naked Childhood, another story about a troubled boy in troubling foster care from a year when France’s youth were set to revolt en masse. Depessville’s update has style to go with the realism: surreal flourishes, dream sequences, and a vaguely cursed pastoral mise-en-scène courtesy DP Simon Beaufils. One of the plot’s leitmotifs concerns Samuel’s inability or unwillingness to defecate, which causes Maria no shortage of consternation. Another shows Samuel training for a gymnastics competition, a hobby in which he seems to take great pride. In the best sequence, Samuel and two other boys hop on a boat that immediately becomes untethered, floating downstream. Depessville lines these precipices in a row, allowing his protagonist to glance into the abyss. At its very best, Astrakan is a gripping, impressionist rendering of the raw precariousness of youth.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Astrakan.