Wendy Ide 

Love According to Dalva review – disturbing but delicately handled French tale of parental abuse

In Emmanuelle Nicot’s assured directorial debut, a young girl struggles to make a new life after being ​rescued from her predatory father
  
  

Zelda Samson as Dalva, wearing lipstick and an updo, surrounded by girls her own age in a the school toilets
‘Magnetic’: Zelda Samson, right, as Dalva. © Caroline Guimbal Helicotronc Tripode Productions RET Photograph: © Caroline Guimbal Helicotronc Tripode Productions RET

Dalva (Zelda Samson) wears her honey-coloured hair in a soigné updo; her wardrobe consists of little black cocktail dresses and lace. Which would be fine, except for the fact that Dalva is just 12 and has been shaped and brainwashed by her predatory paedophile father. At the very start of the film, in a harrowingly raw scene, the police and social services rescue Dalva from the home she shares with her abuser. Conditioned by her father to believe herself to be one half of a great love affair, Dalva pines and struggles to connect with the other kids in the residential home where she is placed.

It’s an uncomfortable watch, but this assured French-language debut from director Emmanuelle Nicot negotiates its disturbing subject matter with delicacy, sensitivity and honesty. In the central role, the magnetic Samson is a revelation.

Watch a trailer for Love According to Dalva.
 

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