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Marine Atlan · France, Italy, 2026 · 145 min
Simmering desires, youthful disquiet, uncertainty, anxieties and passions erupt among a group of teenagers visiting the ruins of Pompeii. A devoted but put-upon teacher shepherds twenty of her students to Naples to visit the sites devastated by Mount Vesuvius two millennia ago. Being in such close quarters for an extended period heightens the tensions within the group. Boisterous Toni yearns for his best friend James, who is canoodling with his classmate Angela, herself vexed by masculine insensitivity. Meanwhile, ostracised star pupil Suzanne fantasises about how to become embroiled in the unfolding drama. The film's vivid portrayal of our tendency to conceal our emotions is inspired by Wilhelm Jensen's novella Gradiva: A Pompeiian Fancy and Sigmund Freud's analysis of it.
"I wanted to create a kind of clash between the group of youngsters, their present reality, and the eternal nature of the ruins. I've always been fascinated by Pompei because it feels like an immense off-screen space, a snapshot of history. I wanted to see what it would trigger in terms of dramaturgy and aesthetics, and to juxtapose the very specific period of adolescence with wider history." (Marine Atlan)
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