Standing Tall

Bercot is able to craft a believable arc within her protagonist, allowing for a gradual character progression rather than one that is abrupt and difficult to reckon with.

Standing Tall is indeed tough going, yet it’s illuminating and ultimately even a bit hopeful.

Paradot exposes every last nerve and manages to be appropriately sensitive and confused between outbursts of rage. He benefits, too, from direction (by On My Way's Emmanuelle Bercot) that's unafraid to make Malony look terrible.

If director Emmanuelle Bercot's feature isn't always dramatically satisfying, it is fueled by the fine, flinty chemistry of Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Magimel and newcomer Rod Paradot.

It is a high-minded, often touching movie which replaces the nihilism and miserabilism often to be found in social realism, and replaces them with a positive vision of what the state can – and can’t – do to help.

Simply falls short.

It’s a preening piece of work, aiming to flatter and please, while masquerading as something hard-hitting and daring. And because of all that, it’s a bore.