Sandrine Veysset has only made three films so far, but it would be no exaggeration to call her one of France's most talented directors. Her debut, "Will It Snow for Christmas?" took a Cesar (French Academy Award), her follow-up "Victor . . . pendant qu'il est trop tard," grabbed a Critics' Award at Rotterdam, and her latest (and best), "Martha . . . Martha," took the Critics' Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. All are compelling and brutally honest portraits of troubled young women, and their love-hate relationships with the men and children in their lives.
A former assistant to Leos Carax and self-taught filmmaker from Provence, the 34-year-old Veysset displays a precocious wisdom, fully bringing her characters to life on the screen and forcing the viewer to see life from a very different perspective for 90 minutes. Veysset is highly attuned to the underclass, people on the margins of society for whom existence is a daily struggle, both economically and spiritually.
In an interview, Veysset explained this is a natural course for her. "The characters who appear in my film, for the most part they're people who are somewhat alienated from society," she says. "I don't make films about what I don't know. I'm not part of the world of the bourgeoisie, so my characters don't drive expensive cars and live in gorgeous homes. I'm not interested in that -- there are plenty of people who aren't like that anyway."