Small towns. Often in films they are not exactly the idyllic places they are billed as being. Small towns seem to be places where bad things happen and secrets are kept. In the small rural town of Sainte-Adeline, Quebec 13-year-old Magalie (Emilie Bierre – from television’s Les Beaux Malaises) seems like your typical teen. She has a boy she is interested in and enjoys her dance team. Teens have secrets. They all do. Magalie’s is just bigger than most.
in one of her dance team practices she passes out and falls, breaking her arm. At the hospital blood tests reveal that she is pregnant. In her second trimester. Her mother (Marianne Farley – Imaginaerum) is shocked by the news. Once she collects herself Isabelle asks Magalie who the father is but the teen refuses to tell.
Being that it is a small town and everyone is involved in everyone else’s lives, people begin to talk. They make guesses at who could be the father. What they come up with is no way near as shocking as the truth.
Though this is not a thriller the tension here begins early and lasts throughout on a high level. The unfortunate (but good) part is that there is no pay off in the end. All end up paying for what happened in one way or another except for the person responsible. Powerful stuff!
A cool part is that this is not a mystery. From near the beginning you know who the father is. We know while everyone in the town remains guessing. The fact that you know does not remove any of the tension; it actually makes it more disturbing. Further commentaries are made about the grooming about young girls, how in this post #MeToo time we still have to remain vigilant and sprinkled in racism, the viciousness of social media, and misogyny for good measure.
Though at times a difficult watch it is still compelling. It is not only the story which sucks you in but the acting of Bierre and Farley. Both act the hell out of their characters and show that evil can exist even in the quiet.