The Cast

You can read more about our cast and team on the film’s IMDB page.

Behind the Scenes

Synopsis

Tom and Iona have invented an idyllic paradise for themselves in the South of France. After deciding to live together on a whim, things appear to be going well. That is, until an unexpected houseguest arrives – his estranged son, Matthew, who turns up at Tom’s front door with his empathetic French girlfriend, Adele. Tom, excited by the opportunity to reconnect with his son invites them to stay.

Matthew and Adele settle in. Over dinner that night, Adele discusses her childhood, and how she grew up in a cult with parents who believed she was a goddess, until she abruptly ran away at 14. Surprised, but not shaken, Tom and Iona are concerned by Adele’s dramatic disclosure. It soon becomes clear that Adele’s emotionally tumultuous past is not quite finished with her.

As the days pass and the characters’ emotional histories begins to unravel, Iona forms a cautious bond with Adele, and in a moment of vulnerability caused by Tom’s preoccupation with connecting with his son, Iona reveals hidden aspects of her and Tom’s relationship.

Soon, Matthew’s pent-up feelings towards his father reach a boiling point when Matthew drunkenly confronts him about the affair he had while Matthew was a teenager, that effectively ended his marriage.

As the fine line between resentment and love for his father narrows, Matthew takes time away from his father to go into town with Adele on a curious mission to procure drugs from some locals. After seeming to help save the grandmother of the drug dealer, the old woman’s son invites Adele to a street party out of gratitude.

At the street party, with tensions high, Tom and Matthew engage in an entirely novel experience: a cathartic dance-off encapsulating their mutual competitiveness, capacity for joy, and long forgotten appreciation to have each other in their lives. But this newfound excitement is cut short for Matthew when he takes Adele to a scenic hillside to experience another novel experience: sex.

After an awkward and unfulfilling experience, Adele breaks down and reveals that her past abuse was not only emotional, but that she was repeatedly raped by her father as a child.

The next day on an excursion out to sea, everyone’s plans are cut short when a fight breaks out between Iona and Adele. Iona has started to find Adele’s emotional neediness as self-pitying and attention seeking. Adele throws Iona overboard. Angry, depressed and questioning everything, Iona retreats from her crumbling paradise to a hotel, causing Adele, racked with guilt and still in shock, to hitch a ride to Paris. All Matthew can do is beg Adele to stay, but there is no changing her mind.

Father and son, now alone together, are compelled to reckon with their unresolved feelings toward each other. Over dinner, in a moment of understanding and truthful recognition of the past, the two come to suspect that it may have been Matthew’s mother, not Tom, who was responsible for the breakdown of their family. But the following morning, Matthew must set off to start life anew.

Now completely alone, Tom runs into Iona. But can he convince her to give the life they have crafted a second chance?