MONTPARNASSE

BIENVENUE

First-time director Léonor Serraille perfectly captures the aimless wanderings of an unemployed and penniless young woman who’s just been permanently kicked-out of her old flame’s Paris apartment where she’s crashed after a long absence abroad. Paula (Laetitia Dosch), red-haired and free-spirited, is on-screen 100% of the time as she drifts from job interviews to pawnshops in left-bank Montparnasse, improvising her way through life with her off-the-wall charm and inventiveness. She should be despondent at having doors figuratively slammed in her face, but she’s a survivor, a late starter typical of many of her generation.