Recensioni de* critic*

The riveting revelation of “Wild Diamond” is that the film’s first-time writer-director, Agathe Riedinger, tells this story... with a clear-eyed dramatic power worthy of Andrea Arnold or the Dardenne brothers (or, in a lighter way, the Sofia Coppola of “The Bling Ring”).

[Wild Diamond] is a spirited debut feature from Agathe Riedinger that absolutely has its finger on the pulse of present-day pop culture, and Khebizi is a formidable presence as the sulking, sultry Liane... But we’re always kept at a bit of a remove from her, unable to pin down what motivates [her].

The film itself can’t quite decide if Liane’s aspirations are obviously vacuous and she would be better off cultivating the quieter values of intimacy and love, or if Liane is right to want more, to aim high and use what she has... At all events, Khebizi gives a heartfelt performance.

There’s a dreamlike quality to Liane’s world as the movie spells out her magical thinking in cinematic terms. But the screenplay itself fails to get inside Liane’s head as much as Khebizi and the film’s visual style do. You leave feeling like you only scratched the surface of who Liane is.

Wild Diamond features gorgeous and frank observations about influencer culture, but it struggles to assert itself narratively. There are moments when the beauty of the project can feel like a distraction from its thin story. Liane drifts through various situations, some of which seem contrived to pad the journey from the assured beginning to the refreshingly different end.

“Wild Diamonds” is a character study both of Liane and of the culture that has spawned her, and a film that manages to be both empathetic and unforgiving. It won’t make you think she’s making smart choices, but you’ll understand why she’s making bad ones.

While it’s a rather slow build into the psychological insight of this specific emotionally tarnished nineteen-year-old, Riedinger wrings quite an impressive performance from newcomer Malou Khebizi in this character study template.

Diamant Brut is a thought-provoking, well-conceptualized debut for Riedinger with a star-making turn to boot, and Riedinger’s insight and empathy might get her far in a French cinema landscape in which the position and perception of women is in dire need of change.

The film [refuses] to look down on its central character, while also offering a brutally clear-eyed appraisal of the forces that shape her... Khebizi is terrific in the role. It’s tempting to assume that a character this superficially showy must have very little going on inside. But Khebizi unpeels the fake hair and lashes to reveal an emotional battleground.

With its endearing heroine, always on the move and with a strong character, aspiring to freedom and truth in the still naive tumult of a post-adolescence filled with high hopes and poorly channelled emotions, Wild Diamond paints a striking and detailed picture of a youth sucked in by a mythology of appearance and money... and by their addiction to social networks.

Obviously, there is a gulf of understanding between Liane and the majority of people likely to see this film, which gives it an unavoidable element of voyeurism. Riedinger and her cinematographer Noe Bach do fight this, using discreet distances and shadows to avoid fetishizing her hyper-sexualized body. There is also care taken to track Liane’s life without turning it into a pat explanation for her current appetite for excess.

While Wild Diamond is literate enough to position itself in the female subjectivity and to address the misogyny associated with the sexualization of young women (whether or not they have plastic surgery and wear mini skirts), it ends up being surprisingly conservative regarding sensuality.