Milla opens in a state of languor: a young couple snuggled up together, camping in their car. In our very first sight of Milla (Séverine Jonckeere) and Leo (Luc Chessel), condensation on the car windows forms a natural softening filter between the lovers and their audience, bathing their morning idyll in a haziness never to be seen again. Later, they eat a cobbled together breakfast in the forest, a lushly composed scene of domestic and romantic peace. It’s worth noting these early moments of leisure for they provide the first inkling of unfussy and unsentimental consideration that permeates Milla, a work of patient and heart-aching metamorphosis.

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