The center of “Wild Diamond,” the one debut to play in competitors at Cannes this yr, is a narrative we’ve seen earlier than. A younger lady residing in grim-to-disappointing circumstances has goals of stardom, and her journey towards fame takes her to darkish locations, bodily and emotionally. You’ll find variations of this situation in Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” to Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure.” Director Agathe Riedinger’s debut function has little new to say in regards to the pursuit of fame and the toll it takes regardless of a really distinctive heroine in Liane, performed with an odd and alluring distance by Malou Khebizi. It’s solely a disgrace that the movie does her a disservice in leaving the world round her underdeveloped.
The 19-year-old Liane has mastered the artwork of creating herself up for the web. In a single sequence, we watch as she will get prepared. She contours her face with precision. She locations a cap round her lips to make them plumper. She squeezes her ft into towering heels embossed with jewels plucked off T-shirts within the mall the place she is shoplifting. This all is useful when she will get an opportunity to audition for a tv present known as “Miracle Island.” We by no means be taught a lot in regards to the present — it’s “Love Island”-esque and shoots in Miami — or the casting course of. In a single take, the digicam holds on Liane as she stands earlier than a consultant from the manufacturing firm, answering questions on what procedures she has had finished. (She saved cash from her waitressing job to boost her breasts.) The lady tells her they don’t need “goody goodies.” Liane swears she’s not, however her discomfort possibly reveals one thing completely different. It’s one of the best sequence within the movie.
Liane has finished all the things in her energy to make her physique interesting for selfies and thirst traps. She wishes the love and even the hate she finds on social media — feedback seem on display screen in a block of artfully designed textual content — however in terms of precise romance, or intercourse, she is at a loss. When considered one of her pals calls her a virgin in an early scene, you doubt it. By the tip, you’re positive that’s the case. Liane makes use of the trimmings of sexuality to realize her objectives of energy, however Riedinger makes it clear how uncomfortable she is in her personal pores and skin.
It’s a dichotomy enhanced by Khebizi’s efficiency. The actor straddles the steadiness between Liane’s timidness and ferociousness. She wears the pores and skin of a hyper-sexualized star — she goals to be the French Kim Kardashian — whereas however feeling stifled by not solely her circumstances however her personal mind. You see the type of character she may be on a TV collection: the rabble-rouser, entering into fights with girlfriends. And but you notice the insecurity driving her each transfer. She’s maniacal in her quest with out realizing how remoted it makes her.
Riedinger, who additionally writes, first introduces Liane’s every day life within the South of Frances, the place she sells stolen items, goes clubbing along with her pals, and watches over her youthful sister, residing at dwelling along with her mom, who at first is never seen. The audition for “Miracle Island” is a temptation dangled in entrance of her. And as soon as that occurs, she acts as if she is straight away already solid. But Riedinger just isn’t within the means of reality-show casting. As an alternative, it’s what occurs between the audition and reply that contains the narrative arc of “Wild Diamond.” Sadly, the movie ambles narratively to a conclusion that looks like the beginning of a extra fascinating film.
Extra unlucky is a quasi-romance that occupies a few of Liane’s time with a boy (Idir Azougli) she knew from foster care when she was 13. He’s now a biker who considers himself her knight in shining armor, doling out lame traces she appears sometimes taken by, even when she’s not all that eager about him. It’s a wan courtship that solely proves participating when it’s revealing Liane’s private doubts. Equally lackluster is how the movie teases out the battle between Liane and her mom (Andréa Bescond), a ne’er-do-well so behind on hire she’s on the verge of getting her household evicted from their dwelling, residing off the largesse of strangers. We by no means actually get to the foundation of their pressure past Liane’s aversion to her mom bringing males dwelling. Their anger at each other is decreased to pat rebellious child-irresponsible mom dynamics.
What “Wild Diamond” lacks in drive it has in look, due to cinematography from Noé Bach, who shoots in Academy ratio, ever the parlance of the modern-day social realist custom (together with Arnold’s “Fish Tank,” which this movie owes a fantastic deal to). There’s a dreamlike high quality to Liane’s world because the film spells out her magical pondering in cinematic phrases. However the screenplay itself fails to get inside Liane’s head as a lot as Khebizi and the movie’s visible model do. You permit feeling such as you solely scratched the floor of who Liane is. You need extra for her as a lot as she desires extra from her small life.
Grade: B-
“Wild Diamond” premiered on the 2024 Cannes Movie Competition. It’s at the moment searching for U.S. distribution.