The Wonders

Vivid and grainy 16mm photography evokes the notion of a family out of step in Alice Rohrwacher's sophomore feature, The Wonders. A beguiling and impressionistic coming-of-age sketch, it trades on atmosphere and intimacy as it tentatively explores the adolescence of the young Gelsomina, played with great restraint and subtlety by Maria Alexandra Lungu. Like in her 2011 debut, Corpo Celeste, Rohrwacher has once again cast an unknown actress as her lead and successfully coaxed a wonderfully intelligent performance.

Growing up in a hermetically sealed world that her belligerent beekeeping father has freed from the perceived corruption of wider society, her dawning independence is juxtaposed with the slow fade of his old-fashioned way of life. A young labourer catches her eye and she covets victory in a local TV show that would ironically reward their devotion to rustic tradition; her newfound wilfulness butts against the dominant hierarchy. Though perhaps less weighty than some might have hoped, it is beguiling to watch Gelsomina blossom into a future queen of the hive. [Ben Nicholson]