FILM STUDIES
Johanna Pataud – Pétrel
by Johanna Pataud
Pétrel is a feature-length fiction film on the edge of the fantastic. Through the prism of grief, it investigates the porous boundary between human and animal life. Ouessant. An island lashed by wind and teeming with seabirds. Morgane, 28, a naturalist working in nature conservation, lives there in solitude until her younger brother Robin, 26, unexpectedly returns after years without contact. As they struggle to reconnect, tragedy strikes. During a hike along the island's fogbound cliffs, Robin disappears. Suicide? Accident? Morgane refuses to accept either explanation. The island she thought she knew has become strange and unfamiliar. To find the truth, she must follow in her brother's footsteps, crossing boundaries between worlds, shedding her former self, and risking losing herself.
