Le Lotus
2026 · 2m
Directed by Tania Tsikounas
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, tender
Martin, a young embalmer trained by his mentor Léonard, learns the beauty of the trade.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A coming-of-age about an embalmer sounds like it should be Gothic shock-value, but Tsikounas refuses the morbidity entirely—instead she's made something almost devotional about craft and mentorship, which is either the smartest subversion or the most boring play-it-safe move, and honestly I'm still not sure which.
Tsikounas positions this tender apprenticeship film within a formal lineage of French cinema preoccupied with ritual and the dignity of labor—the contemplative pacing and two-minute precision suggest a director fluent in how constraint becomes eloquence.
The entire film hinges on how Tsikounas frames the hands during the embalming work itself—whether she treats them with clinical distance or intimate reverence determines whether this is just tasteful or actually transcendent, and from what I can tell, she chose exactly right.