Mandagsfilmen: Renoir

In late-1980s Japan, eleven-year-old Fuki struggles to cope with her father’s terminal illness and her mother’s impending breakdown. Seeking refuge in fantasy, she explores everything from imagined telepathy to inappropriate phone calls to a dating service. At the intersection of daydreams and reality, Fuki learns new things about life – and about herself.

Director Chie Hayakawa draws on personal experience to craft a mature and emotionally engaging coming-of-age story. Told in a partly episodic form, the film unfolds through fragments and impressions, following the drifting thoughts of a child on the cusp of adolescence, grappling with loneliness and grief in the face of death. Young Yui Suzuki delivers a remarkable lead performance.

Renoir premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was among the most celebrated films by both critics and audiences.