Parting Shot

Colour, 35 mm
Switzerland, France, 2007, 83 min
Section: Variety Critics’ Choice

Synopsis

After her utterly convincing turn as an obsessive fan in Backstage, French actress Isild Le Besco creates another creepy portrait of monomania in Parting Shot. Impressive first feature by Basel-born helmer Jeanne Waltz is part psychological study, part personal epiphany as a bungled suicide attempt forces a young woman to connect more with society around her. Writer-director Waltz, with a decade of shorts behind her, keeps the 83-minute pic taut throughout, with hardly a wasted scene. Small changes in emotional calibration are beautifully handled, and the atmosphere of a small mountain town, remote from the wider world, is captured via unfussy helming.