Gradiva

Director: Marine Atlan
Script: Marine Atlan, Anne Brouillet
Cinematography: Marine Atlan, Pierre Mazoyer
Editing: Guillaume Lillo
Producer: Inès Daïen Dasi
Cast: Colas Quignard, Suzanne Gerin, Mitia Capellier, Antonia Buresi

France, Italy 2026
145′
Screening with polish and english subtitles.

As they await their university acceptance letters, a spirited group of teens travels south by train with their Latin teacher, Madame Mercier (a remarkable Antonia Buresi). Among the ruins of Pompeii – where the eruption of Vesuvius froze a civilisation in time – they begin to confront the murky realities of who they are now, and who they are becoming. But the trip proves as emotionally volatile as it is enlightening… gradually consumed by the demands of her role, Mercier struggles to keep her students in line, including the attention-seeking Toni (Colas Quignard), whose unexpected ties to the region hint at deeper currents; his cocky object of affection, James (Mitia Capellier); and Suzanne (Suzanne Gerin), an introspective outsider. As tensions simmer within the group, rivalries, pent-up emotions and betrayals build with mounting intensity. One by one, they are swept up in the region’s overwhelming beauty and their own awakening desires, until they surrender to them completely…