''Spring Blossom'' () is a 2020 French drama film directed by Suzanne Lindon. The film stars Lindon as Suzanne, a teenage girl who is disenchanted with her peer group, and develops a relationship with Raphaël ( Arnaud Valois), an older actor she meets outside a theatre. The film was named as an Official Selection of the

2020 Cannes Film Festival The 73rd annual Cannes Film Festival was scheduled to take place from 12 to 23 May 2020. On 13 January 2020, Spike Lee was named as the president of the Jury. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, festival management announced on 14 ...

, although it was not able to screen at Cannes due to the cancellation of the festival in light of the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

. It screened at the

Angoulême Francophone Film Festival The Angoulême Francophone Film Festival (, FFA) is an annual film festival held in Angoulême, France. It was founded by Dominique Besnehard in 2008 and has been held every year in December. It was launched as a showcase for all kind of francophon ...

, and at the

2020 Toronto International Film Festival The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online stream ...

. It was also screened at the

51st International Film Festival of India The 51st International Film Festival of India was held from 16 to 24 January 2021 in Goa. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the festival went hybrid, there was physical and virtual screening of 50 films out of 224 films across various categories. ...

in the World panorama section. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences.

Cast

* Suzanne Lindon as Suzanne * Arnaud Valois as Raphaël Frei * Frédéric Pierrot as Suzanne's father *Florence Viala as Suzanne's mother * Rebecca Marder as Marie *Arthur Giusi as Léonard *Pauline Rugo as Murielle *

Dominique Besnehard Dominique Besnehard (; born 5 February 1954) is a French actor, film producer, casting director, writer and talent manager. He has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1975. He starred in the 1983 film '' À nos amours'', wh ...

as Gérard Beaumann

Production

The screenplay for ''Spring Blossom'' was written by Suzanne Lindon (who is also its director) at the age of 15. The director cast herself in the film at the age of 20.

Reception

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website

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, the film has an approval rating of based on critics, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "An enchanting debut for writer-director-star Suzanne Lindon, ''Spring Blossom'' captures first love with fittingly delicate beauty." Katie Walsh of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote "Such a confident and self-assured debut would be remarkable for a filmmaker of any age, as ''Spring Blossom'' is a finely wrought, sensitively felt and artistically bold work". Jake Cole of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' praised the director and her debut film for " aintinga concise and truthful portrait of her protagonist's feelings of estrangement", while Tim Robey of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' called it "tender, amiable and sweetly played". Jordan Mintzer of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called ''Spring Blossom'' as "Provocative and original, if a bit slight". According to Steve Rose of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', "

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

is a fleeting affair in every sense". The international press was also positive in regard to the film's premise and release. Writing for ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'', a daily newspaper in India, Shubhra Gupta said "The connection between uzanne Lindon and Arnaud Valoisis tenuous, but tangible: you get the feeling that it may not last too long, as teenage passions are wont to, but it may leave a stamp on both. In spring, things blossom".

References

External links

* * {{Metacritic film 2020 drama films French drama films 2020 directorial debut films 2020 films 2020s French-language films 2020s French films