The mother of the family here (surname not mentioned) has died (perhaps of cancer) and the father has killed himself by jumping out in front of a train. There remain three children: Jack (Kacey Mottet-Klein), 19; Lisa (Anamaria Vartolomei), 17; and Titi/Mathis (Andrea Maggiulli). Jack (only just out of minority) gains custody with his uncle (Yves Caumon) as an 'eye'.
Certainly an eye is needed as Jack is very much between childhood and adulthood, and his relationship with his brother Mathis is sometimes brotherly, sometimes fatherly. But then why did the father kill himself? There was no suicide note, but anyway it may have been written by an unreliable narrator: he was involved in some obviously dodgy dealings, of which there's no clarity.
Mathis descends into despair, especially when his female fellow orphan schoolmate leaves. Jack has his loving girlfriend Maureen (Angelina Woreth) until she's forced to leave him: we know that Jack is living in the past, can't move into the future, but who is there to tell him how to move? Maureen rebukes him for his handwriting: graphology suggests his backward-slanting handwriting isn't an indication of a forward mover.
Jack just moves to blowing money on horses, getting off his head in clubs, and moving to a mobile home in Spain – with Mathis of course, but then Mathis is in some ways more mature than Jack. Jack will no doubt learn, but the hard way, which is painful. It took Christophe Blanc ten years to make a feature after the Blanc comme neige (2010) failure, but although this may not be a masterpiece it has great performances by Mottet-Klein and Andrea Maggiulli.
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