Dir/Wri: Leonore Seraille | Drama, France 2025
Another tale of parental irresponsibility is Ari, about a 27 year-old whose teaching career as gets off to a great start until he suffers a breakdown while working as a trainee in Lille.
French writer and director Leonor Seraille specialises in dramas about human crisis. Her first film Jeune Femme follows a lost and disillusioned young woman through her lonely days in Paris. More resilient than young Ari, Paula eventually triumphs but the trainee teacher, thoughtfully played by Andranic Manet, flounders, at first, after a raw rejection by his father who throws him out of the family home, leaving Ari to fend for himself in this often poignant study of alienation and human connection.
Disoriented after a spell in hospital, Ari experiences Lille through the eyes of a stranger, bewildered by the big Northern city. He finally connects with his old friends and realises that life is all about perception, and that while raindrops often fall, every cloud can have a silver lining if you are positive and persevere. Ari sends out a message of hope to anyone who has found themselves alone or abandoned @MeredithTaylor
BERLINALE | GOLDEN BEAR 2025