Camille Cottin Teams Up With Nathan Ambrosioni for a New Family Portrait Movie!

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An Outstanding Female Cast in an Intensely Emotional Drama

On a summer evening, Suzanne (Juliette Armanet), along with her two young children, makes an unexpected visit to her sister Jeanne (Camille Cottin). Jeanne is caught off guard, not only because they haven’t seen each other for months, but also because Suzanne seems disconnected from herself. The next morning, Jeanne is shocked to find a note left by her sister. Her shock turns to anger when she realizes at the police station that no search operation can be initiated—Suzanne has chosen to disappear on her own accord.

Winner of the Valois de diamant at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, “The Children Are Alright” marks the return of young filmmaker Nathan Ambrosioni, who crafts another family drama following the success of “Toni en Famille,” where Camille Cottin previously shone as a mother of five. In this new feature, his third directorial project after “Les Drapeaux de papier” and “Toni en famille,” Ambrosioni tackles the rarely explored theme of voluntary disappearances. He paints a deeply accurate family tragedy, brought to life through a direction that is both understated and sensitive, particularly through the character of Jeanne, portrayed by Camille Cottin.

“At the start, Jeanne is somewhat absent from herself, haunted by something. Jeanne is constantly preoccupied, a state that Camille embodies perfectly. She’s an opaque character, hard to read,” explains the director. Indeed, the actress delivers one of her most subtle and internalized performances. Through her silences and the intensity of her gaze, she captures all that her character struggles to express.

This collaboration was a natural fit for Nathan Ambrosioni, who was deeply impressed by his lead actress during the filming of his last movie. “She always looks preoccupied, as if she’s thinking deeply about something when you talk to her, and she feels everything very intensely. That’s why I wrote another film for her,” he shares.

Alongside Camille, two other prominent female figures shine on screen: Monia Chokri (Laurence Anyways, Simple comme Sylvain) and Juliette Armanet, a musician and actress continuing her film career after the success of “Partir un jour.” Ambrosioni wanted a film primarily centered around female protagonists, creating a seemingly safe space. “I found it exciting to bring together an actress, Camille Cottin, a director-actress, Monia Chokri, and a singer, Juliette Armanet,” the filmmaker notes. Together, these three performers bring a true hybridity to the film, at the intersection of various disciplines and sensitivities.

A Glimpse Into the Unseen That Frames the Story

In this family drama, Jeanne is forced to take care of her sister’s children after her sister vanishes by choice. This theme haunts the director, who, with this film, seeks to explore the right to be forgotten, allowing individuals to leave without police interference.

“I wanted to discuss absence: how does a family evolve with a missing piece?” Ambrosioni explains. Suzanne, played by Juliette Armanet, only appears at the beginning of the film. “I wanted a story about a character you never see, a presence that’s always just out of reach.” Although she’s scarcely seen, the film revolves around her absence, with each character striving to understand the reasons behind this void, yet never finding answers.

Hence, silence takes a significant role in the film, creating a paradoxical mix of muted tension and tranquility. Ambrosioni emphasizes his desire to make a ghost movie, assigning his camera the task of capturing a spectral presence, giving the impression that someone is observing the characters from afar.

Telling the Story of Those Left Behind

“The Children Are Alright” primarily portrays those who remain, those who move forward despite the lack of answers. Margaux and Gaspard, played by Nina Birman and Manoâ Varvat, are siblings who confront the adult world crumbling around them. “What’s really powerful is that they seem so close, yet they are so far from each other and from their feelings,” Ambrosioni remarks. The siblings experience the events in entirely different timelines, each coping with the traumatic disappearance in their own way. Initially, they seem to be one entity, but gradually, it becomes clear that their experiences and feelings diverge.

Filmed primarily during the summer, a season that echoes childhood for the director, “The Children Are Alright” plays on the nostalgia of long summer breaks, a time both infinite and distorted. Margaux and Gaspard experience this summer in shock, and all the characters share this unbearable waiting. The poetry of childhood, enhanced by the warm weather, is combined with the mystery of the film’s setting. Indeed, the houses are impossible to pinpoint. “I wanted an unidentified place that is never named. A ‘neutral’ space so that the children’s sense of being shuffled from one place to another is palpable,” Ambrosioni explains. The audience, like the children, is disoriented, torn from space and time, forced to endure the absence and live with what remains.

“The Children Are Alright,” an intense drama featuring Camille Cottin, Juliette Armanet, and Monia Chokri, in theaters December 3rd.