La petite dernière

Seventeen-year-old Fatima is the youngest daughter of a French-Algerian family. In a pivotal year of her life as a young woman, she embarks on a transformative but often lonely journey to explore her sexuality, faith and sense of self.

A tender coming-of-age portrait, La petite dernière accompanies Fatima through a year of self-discovery on the cusp of adulthood. As high school comes to an end, the trap of heteronormativity bears down on Fatima, who is gay. Dressed in all black like a suit of armour, she spends her nights hooking up with women under a pseudonym, with an impenetrability that forbids letting others in – or letting herself out. But when she falls for nurse Ji-Na (Return to Seoul’s Park Ji-min), romance blooms.

An adaptation of Fatima Daas’ 2020 autofictive novel, La petite dernière is deftly directed by actress and filmmaker Hafsia Herzi, immersing us in Fatima’s unspoken solitude even in a room full of people. Nadia Melliti delivers a wonderfully layered star performance, capturing the turbulence beneath Fatima’s inscrutable exterior as she attempts to be true to both her desires and her faith. Jérémie Attard’s sensual and bracing cinematography frames the film’s performances with immense care. A quiet, powerful reflection on how the road to feeling at home with oneself is never linear.

– Xuanlin Tham

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