LFF 2021: Playground ‘Un Monde’
LFF 2021Writer-director Laura Wandel offers a stirring and utterly perfect venture in her drama Playground, an intimate character study told through the eyes of a child on the playground.
There is so much to commend here in Wandel's feature, not only through the cinematic quality but also in the sheer talent of performances, which might include one of the best quality child performances viewers will see all year. The first thing to note is the complete and total immersion crafted through the eyes of a child. The entire seventy-two-minute running time of Playground is produced through a child's lens but not one that undermines or dilutes the experience but a narrative that ultimately places the viewer in those tiny shoes.
It is spectacularly innovative, albeit never patronising in its projected experience. Excelling particularly in its aesthetic and framing from the director of photography Frédéric Noirhomme's composition. The camera is constantly positioned at child eye level and thus crafts an immersive, personalised lens to see the events that unfold, bringing a tender and tentative approach to this story.
Placing the viewing in a child's eye subconsciously broods a deeper level of emotive weight in witnessing events on a more conscious level than perhaps the prepubescent naivety that the lead child character would understand. It crafts a protection and immersive quality in connecting with the weight of the feature by character.
However, what makes the aforementioned thematic tick is undeniably the central performance from Maya Vanderbeque as Nora, who is nothing short of sensational. Quipped with a documentarian aesthetic from cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme, the blur of reality is truly underway in this depiction. Vanderbeque curates a tremendous ability of range for such a tender age, not even over double digits, flawing to an extent the young actress would unequivocally put actresses five times her senior to shame. Vanderbeque dazzles in situating the viewer in her shoes with a wonderfully enchanting and warming performance that the viewer will be intoxicated in, not only witnessing said stirring but profound impact of the most simplistic yet humbling hugs. Small but constantly delicate moments that director Wandel allows for the feature to breathe and flow with heartwarming brevity.
