The cacophony of children playing (and yelling, and fighting) permeates Laura Wandel’s debut film, Playground—a stirring narrative drama about coming of age in Belgian primary school. The clamor never lets up around seven-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque). Intimately tracking her at eye level, the camera isn’t unconcerned with the background noise, but it is more invested in how these surroundings affect Nora—a fish out of water in one of the most formative periods of her life.
Before the events of this narrative drama, Nora had a quieter idea of life, safe and sequestered at home with her stay-at-home father, Finnigan (Karim Leklou). When she enters primary school, everything is loud, new, and overwhelming—except for the comforting presence of her older brother, Abel (Günter Duret). Abel is bullied when Nora interferes with his social standing, however. Now Nora must navigate the confusing sphere of primary school while being witness to Abel’s traumas. How can she and her brother stay afloat when the rules are always changing?
When speaking of her inspiration for Playground, Laura Wandel said in an interview with Serge Kaganski, “The beauty of childhood is all poetry but also all cruelty.” In childhood, one experiences everything for the first time. Obstacles and social experiences that are second nature for adults are, for children, formative and even deeply traumatic. Standard childhood accomplishments (like Nora’s tying a shoe) seem so monumental. And social rules aren’t yet ingrained but must be learned and applied quickly in order to avoid a fate like Abel’s.
When laid out so matter of fact, the themes Wandel explores may appear trite. But Playground crystallizes the cruelty, the poetry, the life-and-death largeness of childhood like no other coming-of-age film—expertly capturing an experience distant yet familiar to most who will watch.
Led by the striking young talent of Vanderbeque, Playground constructs one of the most affecting and sincere portrayals of childhood on the film scene today. A necessary addition for narrative drama collections, Wandel’s coming-of-age film comes highly recommended. Editor’s Choice.
What public library shelves would ‘Playground’ be on?
Public libraries should purchase Laura Wandel’s Playground for coming-of-age, French-language, Belgium-setting, and narrative drama shelves.
Does ‘Playground’ have Public Performance Rights available?
There are public performance rights available for Playground. A DVD/Digital copy of Wandel’s narrative drama is $350 with PPR.
What kind of film series would this narrative film fit in?
Playground would be well-suited for programming a film series about formative school experiences, taking its place alongside other coming-of-age films such as Kim Bora’s House of Hummingbird and Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade.