Although it enjoys from a fabulous leading performance by Vincent Lacoste and an interesting premise, the execution of this film ends up feeling somewhat flat due to an unnecessary large number of side characters and plotlines.

After a tragic terrorist attack that takes the life of her older sister, David, a 24-year-old laidback Parisian that survives out of odd jobs, finds himself with the challenging responsibility of taking care of his seven-year-old niece.

Vincent Lacoste is amazing as David. The nonchalant charm and attitude towards life that he is able to display prior the attack, as well as the endurance and strength compensated by spurs of fragility that he is able to encapsulate after it has taken place is remarkable. The control that he has over himself by switching from apparently being completely fine to having a complete meltdown, even in the most public spaces, is worth every word of praise. That goes along with how well he plays out his relationship throughout every scene with Isaure Multrier, who plays his niece and title role Amanda, holding up some of the lacks from the younger actor, who overall gives a good performance but at times might be slightly overacting or underplaying her part a bit much.

What cannot be denied about the character of Amanda is how well written it is. Director Mikhaël Hers and Maud Ameline co-write a completely believable period of grief at such an early age. The mixture of incredulity and denial is calibrated perfectly, especially in the early stages after the death of the mother.

But besides this specific element, the writing feels a little bit sloppy and with a lack of focus. While with such a premise, you might expect for the film to capture both the challenges of early and unexpected parenthood, and the consequences of being a non-mortal but nonetheless victim of a terrorist attack. The truth is that only the former element is put under the microscope, while the second one is only given a very superfluous attention in maybe two or three small scenes through the film. Those are basically covered with some side characters (friends and even a journalist) that, due to the nature of those scenes and the attention that they receive aside from those, feel as simple fillers of the story.

That also happens with other apparent conflicts and characters that appear or are mentioned during the movie. An estranged mother who disappeared 20 years prior and now wants to reconnect for whatever reason (you really never get to properly know either why she left or why she is now trying to contact the two siblings), two people that accuse of physical abuse the older sister at her teaching job (it feels like too much of an important accusation to only be thrown out there as it would not matter), and even a mysterious boyfriend of the sister that we never get to know (even if a meeting gets teased). The only secondary characters that are somewhat justified and seem to have some meaning and purpose are Aunt Maud (Marianne Basler) and David’s partner Léa (Stacy Martin) who act as both familiar and social sustain for David respectively. Besides those two, and the weird exception of one character that feels like that random and fortuitous person that you might encounter on the streets from your past and that you promise (even knowing that you won’t be true to your word) to meet again, the rest of characters is like if they were lost in the shuffle as they are being given too much of importance for their lack of impact.

As a whole, it just feels like this movie, with clearer focus into the two dramatic forces of the plot (parenthood and terrorism), could have been more complete trimming some unnecessary secondary characters and diving completely into the psyche of David. We get to see that in his relationship with Amanda, but we do not get to see that same thing towards his assassinated sister. Nevertheless, the film remains acceptable since the element that it does tackle (suddenly-found parenthood) is being covered with enough empathy and realism, and Lacoste keeps us glued to our seats watching his great performance.