Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenüe)

Serraille studied literature before switching to cinema, and her sharp attention to the detail distinguishes Jeune femme from so many first-time indie features.

Dosch, though she’s been appearing more and more in French films of recent years (including Maïwenn’s “My King”), will make heads turn in the role of her career thus far. Her Paula is instantly charming, never too outrageous, hilarious and supremely sympathetic. She will steal your heart.

Thrillingly capturing both time and place and fizzing with non-judgemental empathy and cinematic flair, this is a magnificent debut that catapults Laetitia Dosch into the front rank of French actresses.

This first film by writer-director Léona Serraille is full of snap and surprises.

Serraille avoids every miserablist cul-de-sac and tries for something much more radical: optimism.

It is clear that Serraille has made a portrait of a very specific individual but that she’s also saying something more general about her own generation.

[An] attractive and sympathetically acted movie in a classic New Wave style.