Cannes Day Ten: The Story He Told Himself

Film forty-seven of the festival and Marine Atlan's La Gradiva, the Critics' Week winner, is one of the most wholly transporting films we have seen at this Cannes. French teenagers in Naples, a class trip to Pompeii, and a boy named Toni whose entire romantic self is built on a story about his grandparents that turns out to be more complicated than he knew. Colas Quignard is an extraordinary discovery. We talk about the volcano metaphor that earns its weight, the meritocracy debate scene, and the ending that Atlan handles with devastating restraint.