SOIL

Synopsis: A young filmmaker sets out to document the friendship between a fifteen year old Parisian girl and a homeless alcoholic on the verge of death. What seems at first to be a documentary quickly devolves into a voyeuristic exploration of young Liza’s past and an attempt to undermine Adam, who is confined to the addiction ward of the Hopital Fernand Widal, lost in resentment. As Liza and the filmmaker travel South to the latter’s vacation home, it comes to light that they are in a relationship. The filmmaker is for the first time captured by his own camera, which shirks the documentary form to observe the couple as they vacation. Adam’s invisible presence remains oppressive as the vacation devolves into a vanishing game within the alternatingly grandiose and murky countryside. One night Liza disappears for good, taking the car with her. Grief-stricken and vindictive, the filmmaker returns to Paris to visit the comatose Adam and claim victory over the dying old man.