This is the directorial debut of Félix de Givry, known as a producer of Arco and Coma. The lead role is played by Milo Machado Graner, who emerged as a rising international star with Anatomy of a Fall. “This story begins with the end and ends with the beginning,” says Françoise Lebrun from The Mother and the Whore, introducing the film. After writing farewell letters, a fourteen-year-old boy who has been bullied by his peers disappears. Given the fifty-two letters he leaves behind, in which he writes, ‘This was murder, not suicide,’ people assume he must be dead. This is a rare thing these days: a lyrical, romantic film. The deep, glowing color and retro texture achieved through 16mm cinematography bring the film’s atmosphere fully to life. It is no surprise, then, that the film invites comparisons to the coming-of-age films directed by Truffaut and Malle in the 1960s and ′70s. Cinephiles will add Pialat and Eustache to that list as well. It is no accident that Lebrun lends her voice to the film. (LEE Yongcheol)