An adolescent girl slowly comes to terms with the abuse she endured from her father in Emmanuelle Nicot's powerful debut feature, “Love According to Dalva”, which screened this week at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. FRANCE 24 spoke to the Belgian director about tackling such a delicate subject and premiering in Cannes.
Zelda Samson stars as Dalva, a feisty 12-year-old girl who dresses like a grown woman, wears makeup and does not expect to be treated like a child. We first meet her kicking and screaming as she’s taken away from her father – whom she tellingly calls by his first name rather than “papa” – and into a youth shelter. Homeschooled and hidden from the world, Dalva struggles to understand the grooming and abuse she’s endured, even as she gradually learns to recapture the childhood she was deprived of.
