FemmeFilmFest21 Review: Gone Youth (Audrey Jean-Baptiste)

Loss of innocence can take many forms. Loss of a parent. Loss of childhood. Loss of autonomy. Loss of control.

In Audrey Jean-Baptiste’s short film, Gone Youth, the theme of loss permeates the film. A young woman (Garance Marillier) and her young brother (Eliott Daurat) live together on their own. Their mother has abandoned their family.  Inheriting their mother’s independent spirit, the young woman plans to leave to make music. Through some magic and ill-intent, the young woman finds herself pregnant, and rapidly. Her brother thinks this means his sister will be forced to stay; meanwhile, the young woman continues to have different plans.

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The film is interesting in how it examines loss and processing of grief. These two siblings grew up in the same household and experienced their loss in two different ways. While they both hold some resentment, the young woman sees the value in leaving their small community for greater things; whereas her brother wants to preserve his idealized world as well.

It is also interesting that the catalyst of “will she leave, won’t she leave” is through pregnancy. Many times, we see women and uterine people stuck in relationships or circumstances because they fell pregnant and could not escape – think 2007’s Waitress. Many times, when a woman’s (or womb person’s) body is not seen as her own, society tends​​ to dehumanize her, seeing more as a vessel for another person than an actual human being herself.  

Using mystical elements, Gone Youth tackles the subjects of grief, isolation, autonomy, and freedom so beautifully.