Lila is in coma after a car accident. Valentin is ‘going’ after her, connecting to her mind through an innovative medical procedure. Will he manage to bring her back?

 

Adrien Lhommedieu’s ‘Lila & Valentin is a delirious cinematographic experience, a maze in which the viewer can hardly find a grip to reality. The framing, the colours, the sets are often pure fantasy and powerful enough to design an imaginary world of thoughts, a space where ideal materialises with the help of the mind. There is deep photographic DNA in Adrien Lhommedieu’s short film that will surely enchant eyes and quench their thirst for visual beauty.

 

Beyond the aesthetics of the cinematic approach there is also powerful drama in Lhommedieu’s story. A drama that we have to admit reminds us of Vincent Ward’s ‘What Dreams May Come’ (1998) with Robin Williams but which manages to remain equally original.

 

 Lila & Valentin’’s characters are heading towards different directions: Lila aims for the utopia she’s found in this parallel space while Valentin finds it hard to give up on her and is trying by all means to pull her back to reality and life. It’s the human kind’s insatiable quest for paradise versus love and egoism.

 

Lila & Valentin’ has been awarded with the 2nd place for Film Of The Month (January 2016 competition) for its powerfully sketched conflict of human contradictions and its exceptional cinematography. Well done!

 

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