Bitten (French: La Morsure) is a 2023 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Romain de Saint-Blanquat, in his feature directorial debut. It stars Léonie Dahan-Lamort and Lilith Grasmug as two teenage girls who leave their Catholic boarding school for a costume party on Mardi Gras in 1967.
The film had its world premiere in the Cineasti del presente section of the 76th Locarno Film Festival in August 2023. It later screened at the Sitges Film Festival, where it won three awards, including the Méliès d'Argent Award for Best Fantastic Genre Feature Film and the Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Fantàstic Selection. It was released theatrically in France on 15 May 2024 by KMBO.
Plot In 1967, seventeen-year-old Françoise is a student at a Catholic girls' boarding school. After dreaming that she is burned alive, she becomes convinced that she will die before the following morning. On Mardi Gras night, she and her friend Delphine sneak out of the school to attend a costume party at an isolated house in the woods.
Cast Léonie Dahan-Lamort as Françoise Lilith Grasmug as Delphine Maxime Rohart as Christophe Cyril Metzger as Daniel Fred Blin as Maurice Vincent Bellée as Jean-Pierre Nathan Chapuis-Guntzburger as Alain Virginie Picard as Madame Royer Jean Barrier as Father Antoine
Production Saint-Blanquat wrote the film while completing a master's degree in screenwriting at Paris Nanterre University. He later said that attempts to finance and produce the project lasted about seven years.
The project was a 2018 recipient of the Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma's Aide à la Création. Filming took place in Normandy and Pays de la Loire in March 2022.
Saint-Blanquat said he conceived the film as somewhere between fantasy and an intimate coming-of-age story, recalling the French New Wave and fantasy films of the 1960s and 1970s. He also cited Gothic literature as an influence on the film's aesthetics and its main character.
Release Bitten had its world premiere in the Cineasti del presente competition at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2023. It subsequently screened at festivals including Sitges. Its French theatrical release followed on 15 May 2024.
Reception Jean-François Rauger of Le Monde wrote that the film goes beyond a conventional period coming-of-age story as it moves from realism towards a magical and supernatural register. He also noted its use of horror-film conventions and read its 1967 setting in relation to the social upheavals that followed.
Samuel Douhaire of Télérama praised the film's Gothic fairy-tale atmosphere and its music. Damien Leblanc of Première found that the film's polished direction sometimes worked well, but considered the story flat and predictable and its pacing overly languid.
Accolades Year Award Category Recipient Result 2023 Sitges Film Festival Best Cinematography Martin Roux Méliès d'Argent Award for Best Fantastic Genre Feature Film Bitten Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best Feature Film in the Official Fantàstic Selection Bitten
References
External links
Bitten at Cineuropa