Belle Epine

by Rebecca Zlotowski

Paris in the 1980s. 17-year-old Prudence Friedmann has just lost her mother. Left to her own devices in the family apartment, she enjoys this sudden freedom along with her new friend Marilyne. They both start frequenting the dangerous illegal racing track at Rungis, where big-engined cars and souped-up motorbikes drive round chaotically. Here, Prudence meets 20-year-old Reynald, who charms her, but the feeling isn’t mutual. In reality, the young girl tries to deaden her senses with the noise of the engines and drown out the silence left by her mother’s death. A few weeks away from her baccalaureate, she realises that her mother isn’t coming back.