“Holly” review: a curious and intelligent film about a mysterious girl who may have supernatural powers - Venice Film Festival

Holly calls her school to tell them she's staying home. She's not sick. She just can't bring herself to go. “Bad things are going to happen today,” she said just quietly, her voice breaking.

But bad things happen to Holly most of the time; she's constantly bullied, teased by girls who say she smells, or classmates who go to elaborate lengths not to touch "the witch," as they call her. It's hard to understand why. The central character of Holly (newcomer Cathalina Geeraerts, who impresses even with her silence) is only the designated victim, as she will soon become a designated savior. Two ends of the same straw, each tormenting in its own way.

She's right about the bad day. A fire breaks out in the school. Ten people die. In the face of such heartbreak, there's not much talk about the strange phone call from the school wallflower, but at least one teacher is wondering about it.

Anna (Greet Verstraete) is a candles and essential oils kind of person. She has her own reasons for wanting to find a source of hope and help, but she does not consider herself selfish. When she hires Holly to help organize a picnic for the grieving parents several months after the fire, she believes she's bringing this ostracized girl in from the cold.

She sees smiles spread across the drawn faces of these sad adults when she approaches with platters of sandwiches. She holds their hands. Many hug her. There's something special there, Anna tells her partner.

The film by Belgian director Fien Troch, screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival, shares an initial premise There are a number of films about the mysterious powers lurking in teenage girls – Carrie being just the most obvious – but it has none of their DNA. Shot with the flat realism of a room with the drab school interiors and shopping malls where it takes place, Holly is equally pessimistic about its subject.

When news of Holly's helping powers spreads, all she is asked to do is to do is to get hold of the sick. children. There are no magical item movements, no demonic possession. If she has some sort of second sight, as evidenced on the terrible day of the fire, she cannot summon it at will. When people who think she's connected to the afterlife ask her what happens when people die, she vaguely looks away. “They’re going to heaven, I think,” she said. His only demonstrable power is empathy. This could probably be true for anyone.

What is undoubtedly true is that Holly came from nothing. In an early scene, she is shown in her family's kitchen, looking for something to eat in the refrigerator. There's not much except a few blackened bananas. His mother (Els Deceukelier) lies on the couch, in a mess of blankets, numbed by the television. As she tells the school counselor, Holly's only friends...