“There’s this sense of intoxication, a mystical feeling, excitement.” 1-2 Special has revealed the official US trailer for the acclaimed indie film titled La Gradiva, a French film about high school students traveling on a school trip to Southern Italy to learn about Pompeii & Mt Vesuvius. This premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics Week sidebar, but many critics said it’s good enough that it should’ve been in the fest’s Main Competition instead. It is a major breakout from the indie film scene this year. A group of high school students sets off on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii. There they are seized by a sense of vertigo. They allow themselves to be overwhelmed by desire and anger, until they surrender completely. Starring Antonia Buresi, Colas Quignard, Suzanne Gerin, & Mitia Capellier-Audat. Winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize, Martine Atlan’s “revelatory debut feature imbues the coming-of-age story with a sense of mythic grandeur in this work of classical beauty and overwhelming emotion. Working as her own co-cinematographer, Atlan captures the dizzying contradictions of youth with an almost documentary-like precision.” All the critics are raving about this being one of the best films from 2026! Take a look below.
Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Marine Atlan’s film La Gradiva, direct from YouTube:
In the shadow of Vesuvius, a group of French teenagers on a class trip to Naples grapple with the anxiety & exhilaration of high school graduation amid the ancient ruins of Pompeii. Toni (Colas Quignard), adrift and impulsive; his best friend, James (Mitia Capellier-Audat), popular, alluring, and self-possessed; and Suzanne (Suzanne Gerin), an aspiring artist who feels rejected by her peers, contemplate faded frescoes and debate their generation’s aspirations and shortcomings. While their exhausted but motivated teacher Mme. Mercier (Antonia Buresi) attempts to direct their attention to their breathtaking surroundings, the students’ passions and insecurities lead them toward an irreversible fracture. La Gradiva is directed by French cinematographer / filmmaker Marine Atlan, her second film after directing Daniel previously. The screenplay is written by Marine Atlan & Anne Brouillet. Produced by Inès Daïen Dasi. This first premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics Week sidebar earlier this year. 1-2 Special is debuting Atlan’s La Gradiva in select US theaters starting December 18th, 2026 coming up soon. Who wants to watch it?
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