Young French Cinema 2022: Secret Name
Director: Aurélia Georges Run Time: 112 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Didier Brice, Laurent Poitrenaux, Lyna Khoudri, Maud Wyler, Sabine Azéma
Country: France
Language: French
La place d’une autre/Secret Name is presented at the Film Center and in our Virtual Screening Room as part of Young French Cinema.
Premiered at Locarno IFF 2021. To escape a life of destitution, Nélie Laborde joins the Red Cross and becomes a nurse on the front lines of the First World War. During a German attack, Nélie meets Rose Juillet, a young Swiss aristocrat who is traveling to northern France to seek shelter with a wealthy family friend whom she has never met. When Rose is apparently killed by a shell blast, Nélie steals her identity and enjoys a life of comfort, until the real Rose returns to claim her rightful place.
“imposes a modern understanding of feminist solidarity”
—Jay Weissberg for Variety
Aurélia Georges’s adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ novel “The New Magdalen” focuses on the impact of rigid class hierarchy on the lives of three women, offering a nuanced feminist reading that resonates with the iniquities of our era. It also establishes Aurélia Georges as a leading talent in contemporary French cinema, a filmmaker with a masterful command of suspense and moral complexity.
Young French Cinema 2022 Program See our upcoming films