Chromatique
2026 · 2m
Directed by Alexandra Battereau
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, tender
In an art class, Fred and Charlotte draw a bouquet of flowers, and Charlotte comes to realise that Fred experiences emotions in a different way.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A two-minute short about an art class epiphany feels like exactly the kind of safe, consensus-bait premise that makes me want to check my phone—unless Battereau does something genuinely weird with how she visualizes emotional difference, which I doubt she does.
Battereau positions herself in a lineage of intimate school-set dramas, and if the editing rhythms between Fred's and Charlotte's drawings are as formally considered as the premise suggests, this could be a elegant study in how representation betrays inner experience.
The entire film lives or dies on whether Battereau makes one specific visual or performance choice that shows us Fred's emotional register without explaining it—a color shift, a drawing technique, a look—that does the work sentiment alone can't.