Paradise: Hope

The third film in Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise trilogy is the most heartfelt and uplifting of the three, which comes as both a surprise and a blessed relief. Set in an amusingly draconian fat camp, the film follows 13-year-old Melanie (Melanie Lenz) - the daughter of Love’s Teresa - as her flirtatious relationship with the camp’s affable doctor (Joseph Lorenz) develops into an all-consuming crush.

Seidl’s film has plenty of watch-through-the-fingers moments of awkwardness and tension (and he’s not above finding comedy in the sight of tubby kids exercising), but the director also displays a commendably light touch in his negotiation of this tricky territory, and the picture is buoyed along by the marvellously authentic and endearing performances he elicits from his young cast.

The quality of the filmmaking (with cinematography team Ed Lachman and Wolfgang Thaler again doing stellar work) will come as no surprise, but the sensitivity and empathy with which Seidl explores the pangs of first love might catch many viewers off guard. [Philip Concannon]