Born in Lyon, Serraille (b. 1986) is a cinematic heir to fellow French director, Eric Rohmer. Spectacular shots or grand gestures are not her primary goal. Rather than dramatic action, Serraille’s films entice the viewer through the inner lives of their characters.
What links Serraille to many other French filmmakers is La Fémis, the famed Parisian film school that counts names such as François Ozon, Céline Sciamma and Julia Ducournay among its alumni.
Before her feature films, Serraille already got to bask in the light of another institution of French Cinema. In April 2016, the Cahiers du cinéma magazine ran a cover story titled: ”Cinéma français: Vive les excentriques!” The cover photo featured the protagonist of then yet to be released Montparnasse Bienvenüe, who had drawn herself a moustache with an eyeliner.
The film premiered the following year, fulfilling the expectations set by the cover of the illustrious cinema magazine. Montparnasse Bienvenüe was awarded the Caméra d’Or for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Unlike the cover may have suggested, the film isn’t part of any French ”eccentric wave.” However, its restless protagonist can be positioned in the tradition of French arthouse film, where the characters drift from one random conversation and place to another. But in Serraille’s hands, this restlessness is tempered by the director’s subtle humour and gentle gaze.
After her debut, Serraille has directed two feature films. The most recent of the two, Ari (2025), premiered in competition at Berlinale and is linked to her debut by also being an intimate depiction of a person seeking their place in the world. In Ari, any surplus humour is replaced by melancholic intensity, which persists even when the protagonist lingers over art in a gallery.
Serraille’s sophomore feature, Mother and Son (2022), premiered in competition at Cannes. Spanning two decades, the film is a story about Rose, a single mother who moves to Paris from Côte d’Ivoire with her two young sons. It is the most socially conscious film by the director – and perhaps the most personal. Serraille based the film on the life story of her partner that she also wanted to convey to their children.
That said, the writer-director doesn’t make her private life public. This is another trait she shares with Rohmer. Living outside of Paris, Serraille didn’t tell people that she worked in cinema for years. Legend has it that not even Rohmer’s own mother knew her son was a film director.
”I like being incognito, and I like being a part of a crowd. [To do this job] you can’t look at others from above; you have to remain at eye level, and you have to blend in,” Serraille told Variety magazine in February.
Unlike Serraille, her protagonists do not blend in. A keen-eyed viewer will catch the emotional weight attached to that nonconformity.
Kaisu Tervo