Laura Wandel’s choice to explore bullying not from the perspective of the most directly affected individual, but from someone close to the victim, is the highlight of the film. This approach is indisputably supported by a magnificent performance from Maya Vanderbeque.

As the new school year begins, Abel (Günter Duret) comforts his anxious little sister Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) as she starts primary school. He reassures her that everything will be fine, that she doesn’t need to fear anything, and that she will be able to make friends. Slowly, and after some struggles, she integrates herself into school life. However, it is her brother who endures a hellish experience.

Undoubtedly, the way director and writer Laura Wandel presents the issue of bullying is original. The fact that the entire movie is presented from Nora’s point of view, instead of Abel’s, who is the victim, provides an original twist that grabs your attention. As the focus is put on Nora’s psychology and how she deals with her brother’s suffering, it elicits many concrete reactions and attitudes that you wouldn’t get otherwise if the movie was from the perspective of the person being bullied. These include her resistance to the events, her connivance, her childlike shame, her pain, and her love in the hopes of helping her brother.

All of this is visually devised with the bold choice of keeping a (medium) close-up on Vanderbeque for the entire film. Everything that we see is either her reactions to the things that are said or the actions that occur around her, or what she specifically sees with equally framed back-to-the-camera shots. This rule only gets broken whenever she comes out from the school door and then the unity of the family is recovered with her brother and father.

This could obviously be an even bigger challenge and dare considering that you are practically putting the entire weight of the film onto a seven-year-old, but the fact is that Vanderbeque holds it up splendidly. The rest of the cast is also fantastic, mainly formed by Duret, Karim Leklou (the father) and Laura Verlinden (the teacher Mme Agnès). They play their supporting roles to perfection, well aware that they are not supposed to steal Vanderbeque’s spotlight but rather enhance it. Even if it is normal that whenever she shares the screen with Duret, our eyes may drift more to him to see how he is coping with the abuse.

Another element to highlight from Wandel’s work is the dialogue that she crafts. Full of curious, unforgiving, and incredulous conversations and vain conflicts that, when you are a kid, you exaggerate its importance. For example, there are simplified talks on unemployment, the profundity of the sea, harmful comments about one another’s struggles, or also conflicts on birthday party invitations. All of these are treated with the expected amount of both wisdom and drama that you could expect from a group of six-year-olds.

Nevertheless, although its dialogue is flawless, there are other debatable choices in the writing that considerably affect the quality of the film. On one hand, the evolution of Abel’s character is developed at a questionable pace. While his suffering makes us care and worry for him dearly for most of the film, at around three-quarters of it, his attitude takes a too radical 180-degree change that, although believable, is laid out too rushed, all of that leading up to a rather abrupt and simplified ending. The second aspect is how the school is presented. Surely cases of bullying exist and those are a clear example of some of the problems with the education system, either being because of lack of staff or its quality. But the fact that you have a seemingly guardian during patio hours who never seems to be vigilant enough to pick up on such overt acts of violence, as well as the reaction and follow-up of the school to the issues happening in their institution being minimal (to not say non-existent), makes the microcosm created by Wandel quite hard to believe.

All that said, the truth is that this film is more than worth watching, even if only for its innovative approach in perspective and camera work. When we add the subject matter to the mix, it becomes even more essential, as it addresses one of the most concerning issues prevalent around the world, affecting our children and youth. Admittedly, the film does oversimplify certain aspects of the school system and the psyche of the kids. However, even if that is palpable, the film still manages to encapsulate many of the wrongdoings of our society and how we educate and safeguard our children.