The Folly of Youth Meets the Permanence of Ruin in La Gradiva

Perhaps this is my own midwestern upbringing speaking, but when I was in high school, we were lucky if we got to take a day trip to the state of Wisconsin. That alone makes the mere premise of Marine Atlan’s debut feature, La Gradiva, in which a bunch of French high-school students take a trip to the ruins of Pompeii, something of a minor miracle. Set against the remains of a city frozen in time, these teens — in all their wayward, horny, semi-philosphical, and frustrated ennui — hurtle toward a future unknown. Atlan, who worked primarily as a cinematographer prior to directing, also co-shot La Gradiva alongside Pierre Mazoyer, and it’s clear from the first trailer just how beautiful their images are, just as lush as the frescos her subjects visit on their field trip. Art, cigarettes, having a teacher who is both a little lonely and a little funny: These are some of the most time-honored traditions, no matter where you’re from or who you are.

Atlan’s remarkable debut won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week (where it was also up for, but lost, the Queer Palm) before going on to play in the Centrepiece program at TIFF and have a featured slot in the Main Slate lineup of this year’s New York Film Festival, where these precocious teens have a chance to win over even the stodgiest of Upper West Siders with their belief that they are above not being texted back. La Gradiva will be in theaters on December 18, just when your body is craving the Italian sun the most.