A supernatural psychodrama that boasts some great performances and has a very intriguing narrative but ultimately loses itself and leaves a feeling that something is missing. Even the eerie final image fails to leave you with a sense of completeness with this film even though it has some really fascinating elements. Set in a picturesque French town near to the Alps it concerns Joanne (the always excellent Adèle Exarchopoulos), a swimming coach who is unhappily married to Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue) and with whom she has a young daughter, Vicky (Sally Dramé). Mother and daughter are very close although Vicky seems to shun anybody else and she's racially bullied at school. Joanne discovers one day that Vicky has a heightened and bizarre sense of smell which Joanne thinks is strange but it's not until her husband's sister, Julia (Swala Amati) comes to stay that Vicky's 'gift' comes to the fore and she can fall into trance that allows her to witness events in the past that affected her parents. This brings out old wounds and issues that affects them all. I'm not convinced that the strange events of the film work well enough but this does keep you watching.
It’s an interesting idea. 8yo Vicki has such a highly-developed sense of smell that she can recreate any smell and bottle it in a jar. But where to go with this premise? The smell of her aunt takes her back in time to her aunt’s younger self, and it seems it will become time-bendingly interesting when her aunt’s younger self senses her presence. But the plot makes nothing of this and goes nowhere… and there’s nothing at stake but a family mystery. The novelty and some nice Alpine scenery make it watchable, but it could have been so much more. Even the enticing film title only refers to the sports centre where Vicki’s mum works.