Coma

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, an 18-year-old girl is confined to her room, limiting her interactions to social media. At some point, she starts following a blogger named Patricia Coma, who promotes her invention, the “Revealer.” This experience makes the girl question the very existence of free will.

A highly experimental, puzzle-like film made during quarantine. It’s said to be Bertrand Bonello’s most personal work — and we absolutely love him for House of Tolerance and The Beast (we’ve screened both, more than once). He dedicated Coma to his 18-year-old daughter, Anna. The film is filled with gentle irony and curiosity about the passions of the younger generation — today’s 18-year-olds, whose coming-of-age years were shaped by the pandemic. Absurd livestreams watched by Zoomers, the terror of a global environmental crisis, the fear of being trapped in a space with no way out, the search for a “free zone” where one can truly be oneself — all of this fascinates the director.