Softie

Softie (Petite nature, 2022) is a French drama from director Samuel Theis you can watch online on iFILM. Ten-year-old Johnny grows up on a rough housing estate in eastern France: a quiet, unusually bright boy who fits in neither at home nor on the block.

He watches the messy love life of his young single mother and quietly looks for someone to latch onto. Change arrives with Mr. Adamski, a new teacher just in from the city, who is the first to see Johnny's gifts and crack open a wider world for him. The boy answers with an intense, confused devotion he can't yet name. Aliocha Reinert plays Johnny, Antoine Reinartz the teacher, and Izïa Higelin his mother.

The film premiered at Cannes Critics' Week, with Theis filming his native Forbach from the inside, unsentimental and unflinching. A delicate, uncomfortable coming-of-age about class, loneliness and a first overwhelming feeling, made for viewers of the Dardenne brothers and Blue Is the Warmest Colour. Stream Softie (2022) online on iFILM.