The relationship between thieving, conniving 12-year old Simon and his cranky, shiftless older sister Louise forms the core of the sad, stirring Sister, a film from French director Ursula Meier. Shot by the wonderful cinematographer Agnes Godard, Sister evokes the Alpine ski resort that is the setting of Simon’s mischief, with a gritty self-assurance. Kacy Mottet Klein portrays Simon with a maturity far greater than his years–simultaneously evoking a cleverness and a vulnerability fitting for his role as essentially the head of household. Simon manages to keep stealing expensive skis and belongings from the pockets of the wealthy tourists at the top of the mountain, then give much of his newfound loot to his much older yet unemployed sister as they share an apartment bereft of any parents or other siblings in the town below.
Numerous shots, often from the level of Simon’s viewpoint, take place in the internal hallways of the privileged skiers and on the ski lifts bridging the considerable gap between the resort and the working class town below. Yet Sister avoids the polemic of overdramatizing this social incongruity. Steadfast in its closeups of Simon’s every wile and guile, it steps things up even further in its raw yet often tender scenes between Simon and Louise (Lea Seydoux). A tight naturalism purifies the sordid proceedings. When Simon’s naughtiness is first discovered by Mark, a line cook in a restaurant (Martin Compston, the lead in Ken Loach’s excellent Sweet Sixteen) he fears obvious retaliation. Given the audacity of his age and enterprise, however, Simon actually lucks out and takes on the cook as a fence for his stolen goods. Equally compliant are ski resort locker room denizens who willingly buy his stolen equipment. Not that Simon isn’t occasionally too big for his britches. Posing as a member of the elite himself, he befriends an Englishwoman (GIllian Anderson) and her children and while having lunch with them commits the faux paid of insisting to pick up the check. As her suspicions arise, our hearts go out to his needy impulses but worry for his future safety.
Then the film takes a turn which if anyone spoils for you, you should quit speaking to them for a few weeks. Even without the twist, Sister (France’s entrant in the Oscar Best Foreign Film sweepstakes) would be a highly commendable film. Not only in thematic terms given its wayward youth motif, but also in tone, the film certainly conjures up the masterful Dardennes brothers (Kid With A Bike, L’Enfant). The depth of Seydoux’s performance informs Louise’s narcissism with complexity of the occasional, surprising loving care. Yet it is Klein’s bravura turn as Simon that will haunt you. This kid doesn’t play.
4.5 Wild Child’s (out of 5)