movie

Tonight, we look at two extraordinary films by Valérie Massadian: her brief, bold debut NANA (2011) and her moving character study MILLA (2017). In NANA, 4-year-old Nana lives with her young mother in a small cottage at the edge of the woods. One day, Nana returns home from school to find herself all alone. In MILLA, 17-year-old Milla and her boyfriend Leo live on the margins of French society in a small seaside town. They squat in abandoned buildings, playing house with a handful of scavenged belongings.

Joan Crawford is a successful Hollywood diva who seemingly has it all. But when she discovers that she can't have children, Crawford adopts young Christina and Christopher. Faced with romantic and career setbacks, Crawford directs her anger at Christina, in a pattern of abuse that stretches into adulthood.

Marion Crane steals a large sum of cash from her boss and drives off into the desert. Evading the police, she checks into a rundown roadside motel, managed by introverted Norman Bates. Marion soon discovers that she's the motel's only guest and that Norman lives in the creepy mansion next door, along with his overbearing mother.