After watching the magical Angel on My Shoulder,I decided to take a look at what other films on BBC iPlayer,and I spotted a short and sweet French title. Being pretty lucky with the French movies that have been on iPlayer,I decided to find out how poisonous love could be.The plot:Returning home for the holidays from her Catholic boarding school, Anna Falguères finds out that her dad has walked out on them,and that her mum Jeanne is in a burnt out state. Wanting to be with her dad,Anna secretly calls him in the hope sorting out some sort of arrangement,whilst the relationship with her mum continues to crumble. Surrounded by poisonous love,Anna is left breathless,when a boy called Pierre shows an interest in her.View on the film:Backed by a smooth Folk score from Olivier Mellano,co-writer/(along with Mariette Désert) director Katell Quillévéré & cinematographer Tom Harari drive into the suburbs on a wave of saturated colours,which stylishly reflects the Falguères's moods. Joining Anna in the woods, Quillévéré rubs the title in a lyrical rustic atmosphere lit up by shards of light being cast over Anna's face as the birds hum in the background.While the house is painted in primary colours,the screenplay by Quillévéré and Désert draws darker hues on the events taking place within,by giving Anna and her mum Jeanne an excellent friction that becomes more abrasive as Anna moves from the sainthood in search of her own path. Taking their tops off,the writers display great care in the handling of Anna's romance with Pierre,whose curiosity with Anna is always kept on the right side of being sweet. Facing "Lio" giving a great,brittle performance as Jean, Clara Augarde gives a fantastic, expressive performance as Anna,via Augarde giving Anna a naturalistic intrigue over puberty,and a sharp frustration over family dramas,dipped in a love like poison.

French screenwriter, costume designer and director Katell Quillévéré's feature film debut which she co-wrote with screenwriter Mariette Désert, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, was shot on location in France and is a French production which was produced by producer Justin Taurand. It tells the story about a 14-year-old girl named Anna Falguères whom is living with her grandparents where she has been staying with her mother named Jean ever since she returned from a Catholic boarding school and learned that her mother and father named Paul had separated. Anna is awaiting a visit from her father and whilst she is preparing for her upcoming confirmation at a church called Saint Louis in France and her mother is coming to terms with her break-up through conversations with a parish priest named Francois, she befriends a boy named Pierre.Distinctly and intimately directed by French filmmaker Katell Quillévéré, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a tender and incisive portrayal of a French daughter's relationship with her parents, her bed-ridden grandfather and a same-aged boy. While notable for its distinctly atmospheric and naturalistic milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by French screenwriter, composer, cinematographer and director Tom Harari, production design by French production designer Anna Falguères, costume design by costume designer Mahemiti Deregnaucourt and use of colors and light, this character-driven and narrative-driven story where a girl's sexual awakening clashes with her religious perceptions, depicts an internal and heartrending study of character and contains a great and timely score by composer Olivier Mellano.This eloquently romantic, charmingly humorous, conversational and reflective coming-of-age drama from the late 2000s which is set during a summer in a village in France and where the child of a man who doesn't believe in God and a woman who does believe in God has pivotal experiences with her grandfather and with another person which makes her reconsider and oppose her confirmation, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, subtle continuity, distinguishable style of filmmaking, lyrical aura, scenes between Anna and Pierre and the commendable acting performances by French actress Clara Augarde in her debut feature film role, French actress Lio and French actor Michel Galabru. A refined, atmospheric and profound directorial debut which gained, among other awards, the Prix Jean Vigo at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

In 'Love Like Poison', a schoolgirl returns home from boarding school, to face her depressed mother (who advises her, not to never doubt her beauty but rather, that when she doubts her beauty, never to tell a man!), her peripatetic father, a boy who fancies her, her ailing grandfather (who might do the same), and the local parish priest. It's not badly done, but there doesn't seem much point to the story: life (and death) happens, but nothing seems more dramatic or pointed than any particular sequence of real life where you can't quite get everything you want. The use of music in the soundtrack is also overdone, as it seems to be punching at a higher emotional weight than the underlying film. This is not a long film, but it feels more like opening scenes from a real story, over-extended, than a movie in itself.

You probably need to be in the mood to get the best out of yet another bildungsroman. In terms of pace it's like Erich Rohmer on crutches; in terms of plot it's like Erich Rohmer stuck for ideas. In no particular order Anna, a young girl at Convent school returns home for the holidays to learn that her father has taken it on the Jesse Owens, possibly with another woman, leaving her mother devastated and seeking solace with a local priest who is also a family friend. Meanwhile in terms of old life grandfather is dying by inches and in terms of new life there's a boy of Anna's age in close proximity. And that's about it. Nothing much happens and takes its time about it. On the right day the viewer will find something in it that speaks to him; on the wrong day ... well, let's not go there.