Suzanne review

While it only pops up in the end credits, covered by Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen’s gentle, mystifying song ‘Suzanne’ seems like a guiding light for French writer/director Katell Quillévéré’s second feature.

The lines “You know that she’s half crazy/But that’s why you want to be there” certainly chime with the magnetic Sara Forestier’s titular character, a selfish working-class girl whose at-all-costs affair with the good-for-nothing Julien (Paul Hamy) drives her family to the brink.

Quillévéré’s elliptical plot isn’t always spot-on, skipping years to a near maddening degree. But treading a fine line between poetry and realism, it’s still heartfelt and harrowing.