Sister (L'enfant d'en haut)

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Movie Details

• Genre: Drama
• Release Date: 2012-10-05 NY, 2012-10-19 LA
• Running Time: 97 min.
• Director: Ursula Meier
• Cast: Lea Seydoux, Kacey Mottet Klein, Martin Compston, Gillian Anderson, Jean-Franoois Stevenin, Yann Tregouot, Gabin Lefebvre, Dilon Ademi, Magne-Hovard Brekke
• Producers: Denis Freyd, Ruth Waldburger
• Writers: Antoine Jaccoud, Ursula Meier, Gilles Taurand
• Distributor: Adopt Films
• Official Site: Sister (L'enfant d'en haut) Official Site

Hustling is a profession for the pint-size in Sister, a drama about a 12-year-old boy's efforts to support himself and his older sister by stealing gear from patrons of a Swiss ski resort. A delinquent kleptomaniac entrepreneur who peddles hot skis, gloves, and masks with the confidence of an old pro, Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) toils for the love of sibling Louise (Léa Seydoux), a hot mess who others assume is a whore and who can't hold a job or resist hooking up with her abusive boyfriend. Writer/director Ursula Meier uses a stripped-down, naturalistic aesthetic full of well-organized compositions that pay close attention to shifts in mood and behavior. Her eerily silent soundscape adds to a mood of lost souls trying to maintain balance on a dangerous precipice. A midpoint revelation hits hard even though it's subtly telegraphed beforehand by a look of piercing desperation from Simon to a skiing mother (Gillian Anderson), and leads to a conclusion of tumultuous disarray (and tentative, qualified hope) that makes clear that resentment and anger only breed more of the same-- and, worse still, solitude.