Juliette au printemps (2024)

Juliette (played by Izïa Higelin), an illustrator, returns to spend time with her family in a small town in Ain. She stays with her father, Léonard (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), who has lived alone since his divorce. Her visit gives her a chance to reconnect with her family. Her sister Marylou (Sophie Guillemin), a hairdresser, is very stressed by the mental load of motherhood. She has a lover, Adrien (Thomas de Pourquery), who works in a costume shop. They meet in the greenhouse in Marylou’s garden, and Adrien wears a different costume each time they meet. Nathalie (Noémie Lvovsky), the mother of Juliette and Marylou, is a painter; the sisters meet up with her at an exhibition of her paintings. Their grandmother, Simone, known as “Nonna” (Liliane Rovère), has just moved into a care home for the elderly, as she sometimes gets confused and is prone to wandering off unexpectedly. Juliette and Léonard feel a little guilty, but Marylou does not, since she was the one on the front line caring for Nonna. Juliette, Léonard, and Marylou go to clear out Nonna’s house in preparation for putting it up for sale, and Juliette befriends Pollux, who is temporarily renting the place. They see each other again, and Pollux starts dreaming of a more serious relationship with her. They “adopt” a duckling, which unfortunately ends up being run over by a car belonging to one of Pollux’s friends. A conversation with Nonna piques Juliette’s curiosity, and Marylou tells her that they had a little brother, Nicolas, who died at five months old of sudden infant death syndrome. Juliette, who was only three at the time, had forgotten this tragedy, and realizes that her family never spoke to her about it again, probably to protect her. Marylou’s affair is suddenly revealed during a family gathering. Marylou leaves her husband and dreams of retraining as a florist. After two weeks, Juliette leaves. Her father gives her a photograph of herself holding Nicolas in her arms.