Departure 2015

Departure 2015
1h 49min | Drama, Family, Romance | 20 May 2016 (UK)
Storyline
An English mother and teenage son spend a week in the South of France breaking up a summer home that has become one of the casualties of the boy's parents' crumbling marriage. Matters only become more complicated when an enigmatic local boy enters their lives.

User review:
Andrew Steggall's lovingly directed first feature is a breath of fresh air in the British cinema scene. What at first sight looks to be a quite familiar LGBT coming of age story is turned by Steggall and his lead actress, Juliet Stevenson, into a far deeper and more engaging story. Elliott's (Alex Lawther) discovery of his own sexuality is beautifully framed against the collapse of his parents' marriage and their discovery that their lives had been based on falsehoods that, in some sense had crept up on them unawares. This is a film that will reach out far beyond the LGBT market and should do well across the European art scene. Very finely and delicately shot in the Languedoc region of France it establishes Steggall as a truly new voice in British cinema – not just composed and assured in the medium but with a distinct aesthetic of his own. It will be fascinating to see where he goes in his next feature – surely a larger and even more ambitious project.
Director: Andrew Steggall
Writer: Andrew Steggall
Stars: Juliet Stevenson, Alex Lawther, Phénix Brossard