Impressive – and meaningful – silences punctuate the dialogues of “Holly” and, since the film addresses the theme of superpowers in children, it will remind moviegoers, on these two points, of the fabulous “The Innocents” released in 2022. The comparison does not stop there: like the feature film by the Dane Eskil Vogt, that of the Belgian Fien Troch, in theaters this Wednesday, risks tackling a theme dear to Hollywood cinema, that of superheroes, but through a diverted and very European vision, which focuses more on the psychology and origins of their extraordinary little heroes than on action scenes.
Between drama and genre film, shot in Flemish, “Holly” paints the portrait of a 14-year-old girl with an almost premonitory first name.
Quite mute, rather strange, solitary, Holly is looked at askance in her school in Flanders by the other students who call her a "witch", with the exception of Bart, her only friend, suffering from a similar mental neuro-divergence. of autism.
But the girl's status will be shaken up by the occurrence of an event that she had "foreseen": the fire at her school which will cause several deaths.
From there, a teacher with a keen eye will deduce that the young girl is developing an extraordinary gift: through her sole touch or a few whispered words, she would be capable of doing good and relieving the suffering of those she approaches.
If we later discover that Holly has other abilities such as talking to ghosts or predicting certain events, it is this initial superpower that will make her popular - or lead to her rejection - with neighbors who absolutely want rub shoulders with her to put an end to their physical or mental pain.
Which, in the long term, will also cause her problems, with some deciding to pay her for good services rendered...
Focusing her story on the consequences that a collective traumatic event can have, Fien Troch gently dissects each person's ways of reacting, between aggressiveness and credulity, through the prism of a child perhaps animated by exceptional or more simply different with regard to a certain normality - the filmmaker is careful not to decide, leaving this latitude to the viewer.
Unbelievable scenes, sometimes disconcerting
In doing so, the director multiplies the incredible scenes, certainly sometimes as disconcerting as her heroine, but also extremely pleasant, particularly in the relationships between Holly and Bart, two kids who find themselves around their singularities.
The life of the strange and lonely teenager will be turned upside down when the city discovers his superpower.
Mirage Film/Agat/Angela Otten
To achieve this, Fien Troc benefited from two major supports.
First of all, his cinematographer, the gifted Frank Van Den Eeden, who is also the official photo director of Lukas Dhont who did so wonderfully on “Girl” and “Close”.
The man of the image, who still understands everything about the film, aligns the sumptuous framing accentuating the enigmatic effect of “Holly” and rewards us with breathtaking lighting — hats off to the artist!
And then there is the young Cathalina Geraerts, auditioned in the first before being chosen at the end of a long casting process: her hyper-clear gaze and her almost aphasic way of playing strangeness prove astonishing.
She also understood everything, also showing herself capable of portraying an average teenager at times, which helps to reinforce the questions throughout this astonishing film...
Editor's note:
4/5
“Holly,”
Belgian drama by Fien Troch, with Cathalina Geraerts, Felix Heremans, Greet Verstraete… (1h43).