Coming Home

Frederic Videau's Coming Home (France, 2012) - A young woman sits at a remote bus stop looking at the image of a missing girl. It is her own photograph; eight years ago, Gaëlle was kidnapped and shut away from the world. Now she has to cope with her traumatic experience and her strange new-found liberty. The film takes the viewer back in time to witness her incredible struggle for survival. Gaëlle crouches in a windowless cellar. She waits and waits for her kidnapper to appear. Since he is her only interlocutor she must somehow find a way to connect with him. As she attempts to establish a relationship slowly the balance of power begins to change. The young girl starts bossing her tormentor; complaining about his long working hours and demanding to be taken out on trips by car at night. After her release she still finds herself left to her own devices, since nobody close to her knows how to behave with someone who has spent half their young life in captivity. COMING HOME is a controversial work with a disturbingly powerful protagonist who is obliged to carve out her own idiosyncratic path in life. 2012BERic, 2012SEA. RATING: 7