Amanda

A gentle, albeit very pedestrian drama about the importance of family during times of tragedy

_you never think it will happen to you. It was just a Friday night at a rock show. The atmosphere was so happy and everyone was dancing and smiling. And then when the men came through the front entrance and began the shooting, we naively believed it was all part of the show. It wasn't just a terrorist attack, it was a massacre. Dozens of people were shot right in front of me. Pools of blood filled the floor. Cries of grown men who held their girlfriends dead bodies pierced the small music ve__nue. Futures demolished, families heartbroken. in an instant. Shocked and alone, I pretended to be dead for over an hour, lying among people who could see their loved ones motionless. Holding my breath, trying to not move, not cry – not giving those men the fear they longed to see. I was incredibly lucky to survive. But so many didn't. The people who had been there for the exact same reasons as I – to have a fun Friday night were innocent. This world is cruel. And acts like this are suppose to highlight the depravity of humans and the images of those men circuling us like vultures will haunt me for the rest of my life. The way they meticoulsy aimed at shot people around the standing area i was in the centre of without any consideration for human life. It didn't feel real. I expected any moment for someone to say it was just a nightmare. But being a survivor of this horror lets me able to shed light on the heroes. To the man who reassured me and put his life on line to try and cover my brain whilst i whimpered, to the couple whose last words of love kept me believing the good in the world, to the police who succeeded in rescuing hundreds of people, to the complete strangers who picked me up from the road and consoled me during the 45 minutes I truly believed the boy I loved was dead, to the injured man who i had mistaken for him and then on my recognition that he was not Amaur...

The eponymous seven year old girl (Isaure Multrier) finds her life turned upside down when her mum “Sandrine” is the victim of a terrorist attack in a park leaving her in the care of her young uncle “David” (Vincent Lacoste). He has lived a busy but carefree life pruning trees for the council in Paris, but now not only must he confront his own grief at the loss of a sister with whom he was close, but he has to look after his niece. Unsure whether he should take the responsibility full time, he turns to his neighbour “Léna” (Stacy Martin) on whom he is keen, but who was also injured in the same attack and who is now contemplating moving to the country to live with her mum. The final ingredient in his omelette is his mother. “Alison” (Greta Scacchi) hasn’t seen him for decades and lives in London. Whilst his sister maintained a correspondence with her, he has thus far seen no reason to stay in touch. The last thing he was given by his sister was a trio of tickets to Wimbledon, so perhaps he could still go with “Amanda” and introduce granddaughter and grandmother whilst seeing if bridges can be built? Now, yes, on the face of it these are a pretty contrived series of scenarios, but I thought Lacoste delivered engagingly here as he clearly has a degree of chemistry with both the impressive young Meltrier and the underused Martin. There are maybe one-too-many sequences of Paris by bike, but it’s still quite a delicate portrayal of how grief and shock can impact on a family, regardless of age, and serve to possibly put other things in perspective. It’s a simple story, neatly condensed, nicely scored and I quite enjoyed it.