It’s a backhanded compliment to Sundance to see such an emotionally-stunning film as Belgian director Veerle Baetens’ When It Melts, which premiered tonight in the festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and wonder, right away, why a film of this power won’t be debuting in the official selection at Cannes this year.
This is in no way to suggest that the American indie showcase is a kind of second-best place for it, more an indictment of Europe’s biggest cinema event, which routinely takes such harrowing stories of tortured and troubled women — as long as they are directed by men.
Ironically, at least two of those men (notably Michael Haneke and Lars Von Trier) are recognisable for their influence here, in an intense and uncompromising debut that sets a very high bar for this year’s international arthouse sector.
In terms of investigating the cruelty of youth, there’s a certain amount of overlap here with Close by Baetens’ countryman Lukas Dhont, a critically-acclaimed and likely Oscar contender that deals with the fallout from two young boys’ once-intimate friendship as they enter the pressure-cooker world of secondary school.
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