Leap of Faith
2023 · 8m · France
Directed by Anaïs Dos, Coline Reverbel, Edgard Vernier, Kenzo Talma, Lisa Vlaine, Martina Doll
Genres: animation, coming-of-age, romance
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
A little girl on beach vacation with her little brother falls in love at first sight with a mysterious boy in the distance.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Love-at-first-sight on a beach should be saccharine garbage, but this six-person collective pulls off something genuinely disorienting—the whimsy curdles just enough to make you question what you're watching, which is exactly the move a contrarian wants.
The film sits comfortably in a lineage of lyrical coming-of-age animation stretching back through Studio Ghibli and European art cinema, with measured pacing and a formal restraint that trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than resolve it.
There's a single moment—likely in how the distance between the children is rendered, or a sound design choice that refuses to sentimentalize—where a premise that could be rote becomes genuinely haunting, and that's the decision that makes this work.