L'affiche

In 'L'affiche', Jean Epstein and his sister Marie Epstein construct a devastating narrative regarding the parasitic nature of the commercial image. The story follows a mother, portrayed with haunting fragility by Nathalie Lissenko, who, in a moment of vanity or perhaps desperate hope for social mobility, permits her young daughter's likeness to be used for a widespread advertising campaign. The child’s face becomes the 'poster child' for a product, an icon of innocence sold to the masses. However, tragedy strikes with a swift, merciless hand: the daughter dies, leaving the mother adrift in a sea of grief. The horror of the film lies in the aftermath, where the mother finds herself stalked by her daughter’s immortalized image. Every street corner, every kiosk, and every wall in the city is plastered with the giant, smiling face of the child who no longer breathes. The film interrogates the grotesque permanence of the photograph against the ephemeral nature of human life, turning the urban landscape into a psychological prison where the public gaze and private mourning are inextricably, and agonizingly, entwined.