{"id":29273,"date":"2025-05-23T12:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T09:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/?post_type=guests&p=29273"},"modified":"2025-05-23T12:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T09:40:19","slug":"leonor-serraille","status":"publish","type":"guests","link":"https:\/\/msfilmfestival.fi\/en\/guests\/leonor-serraille\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00e9onor Serraille"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s films entice the viewer through the inner lives of their characters.<\/span><\/p>\n

What links Serraille to many other French filmmakers is La F\u00e9mis, the famed Parisian film school that counts names such as Fran\u00e7ois Ozon, C\u00e9line Sciamma and Julia Ducournay among its alumni.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before her feature films, Serraille already got to bask in the light of another institution of French Cinema. In April 2016, the <\/span>Cahiers du cin\u00e9ma<\/span><\/i> magazine ran a cover story titled: \u201dCin\u00e9ma fran\u00e7ais: Vive les excentriques!\u201d The cover photo featured the protagonist of then yet to be released <\/span>Montparnasse Bienven\u00fce<\/span><\/i>, who had drawn herself a moustache with an eyeliner.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film premiered the following year, fulfilling the expectations set by the cover of the illustrious cinema magazine. <\/span>Montparnasse Bienven\u00fce<\/span><\/i> was awarded the Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike the cover may have suggested, the film isn\u2019t part of any French \u201deccentric wave.\u201d 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\u2019s hands, this restlessness is tempered by the director\u2019s subtle humour and gentle gaze.<\/span><\/p>\n

After her debut, Serraille has directed two feature films. The most recent of the two, <\/span>Ari<\/span><\/i> (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 <\/span>Ari<\/span><\/i>, any surplus humour is replaced by melancholic intensity, which persists even when the protagonist lingers over art in a gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Serraille\u2019s sophomore feature, <\/span>Mother and Son<\/span><\/i> (2022), premiered in competition at Cannes. Spanning two decades, the film is a story about Rose, a single mother who moves to Paris from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire with her two young sons. It is the most socially conscious film by the director \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, the writer-director doesn\u2019t make her private life public. This is another trait she shares with Rohmer. Living outside of Paris, Serraille didn\u2019t tell people that she worked in cinema for years. Legend has it that not even Rohmer\u2019s own mother knew her son was a film director.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dI like being incognito, and I like being a part of a crowd. [To do this job] you can\u2019t look at others from above; you have to remain at eye level, and you have to blend in,\u201d Serraille told Variety magazine in February.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike Serraille, her protagonists do not blend in. A keen-eyed viewer will catch the emotional weight attached to that nonconformity.<\/span><\/p>\n


Kaisu Tervo<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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\u2019s films entice the viewer through the inner lives of their characters. What links Serraille to many other French filmmakers is La F\u00e9mis, the famed… View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":29274,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29273","guests","type-guests","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nL\u00e9onor Serraille — Midnight Sun Film Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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. 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